Play this when I'm gone.

Chapter 1

"My name is Jack Taylor and it is currently 3:30 am on September 29th, 1995, this will sound crazy but I guess if you're playing this already then I think you've figured out what this is about. To the person who's listening to this, I'm already dead. Now you may be thinking, why would you record something like this instead of leaving a note? Well, tapes seem to last longer than paper. Let me tell you my story and why this tape even exists. It started on the first day of junior year and I was 16..."

---

"Yo Taylor! what's up buddy?" my snow white-haired friend ran up to me, "Same ol' same ol'. Do you still want to play video games after school?" I ask, already knowing the answer. Rwenn loves to play video games and ever since that new Donkey Kong came out that same year, me and Rwenn been addicted to it. "Sure thing! I see you're getting back to your old self, whatever happened to you?" dreading the answer I was about to give him, I sigh. "I don't know, I've just felt my self-worth drain right out of me as if someone is pulling the drain to my self-esteem." Rwenn looks shocked,

"Do you know why that happened?" I look up at him, "My mom says it's me being a teenager and that it's all in my head. I'm not sure if it's that though, it could be something more." I pull my sleeves down more. "Oh okay, well if you ever feel that way again, don't be afraid to talk to me about it, all I want to do is help you." I smile as the taller boy ruffles my hair. Whenever he does that it makes me all soft inside and butterflies swirl around in my stomach. Yeah, I've fallen for my best friend, I'm pretty sure he's straight though. "I'll see you later yeah?" I tell Rwenn, he nods and we part ways to our homeroom. "Look, it's Jack the faggot! Hey faggot, how does Rwenns dick taste?!" Andy Sawyer, homophobic, racist, overall dick head. 

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I retort, I've started to care less and less about Andy because he doesn't do anything. "Well, how'd I know unless you told me?" The jock sits on my desk right as I sit down. The jerk was staring down at me, smirking and little giggles escaping his mouth. "Get off my desk or you'll regret the day you were born." I threaten, Andy scoffs and gets off of my desk as if he thought I'd actually fight him. If I'm being honest, I'm not scared of him a single bit, I could probably even beat him up, only if it were just him though. If he was with his clique I'd stand no chance against the guys. 

I pull out my notebook as the bell rings and the teacher walks in. I write poetry in my notebook as I ignore everything the teacher says even though it's really not important. "Jack, can you come to see me after class?" the teacher comes up to my desk, snapping me out of my Edgar Allan Poe dreamland. "Sure, I guess." She smiles and goes back to her desk. I keep writing until the bell rings and put all my stuff in my backpack that should probably be replaced soon. I walk up to the teacher's desk, just wanting to go to my next class. "What did you want to talk about?" she turns and smiles at me, "Have you ever considered keeping an audio diary? I see you writing in that journal of yours all the time and I know you're bound to run out of pages." 

I shake my head, "If I'm being honest, no. I've never thought of keeping a diary that way... why ask?" I'm a little intrigued, why would she, out of all the people I know who writes in their journal, pick,, me? "The reason why I ask is because," she pulls out a drawer from her desk and hands me something in wrapping paper, "Happy birthday." she jokes, "Open it when you get home, you'll thank me later." My birthday is tomorrow, oh wow. "Thank you, Miss." She smiles, "here's a late pass." she writes me the pass and hands it to me and I walk away. I walk into my art class and the teacher walks up to me, "Got a pass?" I hand it to her, "Thank you, go ahead and start working on your project." I put the gift in my backpack. 

"What's that, Taylor?" Rwenn asks, "I don't know, Ms. Jensen gave it to me as an early birthday gift." Rwenn giggles, "You're special, huh? That's really cool. Maybe when we hang out later you can open it." He wiggles his eyebrows. "Of course you weirdo." I walk over to the art cabinet and grab my clay project. I'm trying to create a container I can put all my random junk in because I'm slowly running out of room in my other random containers. I know I'm lazy, it's just my nature I guess. I walk back to my desk and start to shape the lid when I find my mind going back to the gift my teacher gave me. I wonder if it's a tape recorder or something, there's literally no reason why she'd ask me about an audio diary, right? 

"Are you alright?" Rwenn asks, "Yeah, sorry I'm just confused." I try to focus back on my assignment but I find it really difficult. "Hey, at least we can both find out after school, I bet it's going to be really cool." I smile to myself, "We'll see Rwennie." It's a nickname I've always called him. His reaction is really adorable each time, red cheeks, red ears, and that smile that people tend to get whenever they try to hide the fact that they are flustered. I just wish I had the courage to tell him how I really feel about him, because I'm either almost 100% sure he likes me back, or if not that then he's straight. He gives off both vibes; mixed signals. 

"Alright, have a good weekend everyone, see you Monday." the bell rings and we are finally free for the weekend. I hurry up and put my things in my bag and rush out of the classroom to meet Rwenn at the front entrance. "Took ya long enough." the taller boy laughs and ruffles my hair, "I tried to be quicker, you goof." we smile at each other and start walking to my place. "Can I ask you something?" Rwenn says about halfway to my house, "What is it?". "Well, I was wondering, we've..." he takes a deep breath, "We've been best friends for so many years now and I just wanted to ask, are you gay? do you have a crush on me? there's just been so many rumors..."

I felt as if my heart stopped beating, "No, no-no. I'm straight, Rwenn." That's a lie, you lied to him. "Are you sure? Because if that's the case then we can be m-" Rwenn gets cut off by the all too well-known Andy. "Awe, such a cute couple. So who's the top? Let me guess, it's you Rwenn." Rwenn gets defensive, "He's not gay and I respect that. Just because I'm bisexual it doesn't mean that I'm going to force him into a relationship with me, even if I like him." I couldn't believe what I'm hearing. "You know I can spill that little secret of yours and I stayed polite about it for a while, but now that you want to stick up for that little rat, I guess everyone can know that you like sucking dicks." 

"You wouldn't dare, Sawyer." Andy groaned, "can you stop calling everyone by their last name for once? Just because you're so used to doing it because you grew up addressing everyone like that, doesn't mean everyone's going to take it nicely." Rwenn growls, "Stop bringing my culture in this, just leave us alone for Pete's fuckin' sake, you spoiled asshat!" I back up, Rwenn never talks like that, he doesn't even rage that hard when we play video games. "C'mon, let's just go home." I pull on Rwenn's arm and I drag him to my house with Andy just standing there.