You Really Got A Hold On Me

Chapter 2 - Queer

Years went by and the McCartney family stayed happy, Paul was getting on a bit better with people at school, but he was still picked on a bit. Mike was still his best friend, but Paul liked it that way, it meant he could have sleepovers every night!

For Paul's tenth birthday he was given three nice journals with a leather covers. The first two were filled with cartoons and jokes and even some school work. But the third one, that was the important one, the one he hid under his mattress so no one would find it, as this was the one where he would write about his feelings and people he 'liked'. He started writing in this one when he was twelve, that's when he had his first romantic feelings towards someone and boy was he confused, and ashamed.

You see no one ever taught poor Paul about having feelings for people, he thought it was meant to be like what you see in the movies and what you read about in the sappy books. A few of his classmates had girlfriends as well, and they'd tease Paul as he didn't. On this certain day Paul didn't even know what they were referring to.

"Hey! Hey James! Hey fat boy!" said a sniggering boy with his friends behind him.

"Yeah, I heard you the first time Charlie." He sighed, "How do you even know my first name?"

"Don't worry about it." He said in a threatening tone. "Now my first question for you is, considering you're father is a fucking pianist if you could call it that, you come to school in they rags you call a uniform and it looks like you haven't had a haircut since you were six so you must be fucking poor right? So how come you're so fat?" Charlie laughed. Paul just stared at his shoes, he didn't like the argument so he thought he would just ignore him, but that always makes him feel so much worse, but Paul wasn't ready to say anything.

"Come on lard-ass, speak up!"

"Piss off Charlie" Paul said still looking at his feet

"What's that queer boy!" Charlie said aggressively.

"Nothing." Paul said walking away but Charlie came and pushed him from behind and one of his friends stuck his foot out in front of Paul so he fell flat on his face and burst his lip and nose.

"APOLOGIES NOW YOU LITTLE POOF!" Charlie screamed at Paul.

"I'm...I'm so s-s-sorry ch-ch-Charlie." Paul stuttered out while crying.

"That's right, now fuck off. And say hi to your mother for me." Charlie spat. And Paul did what he was told and ran all the way home. 

He stopped just in front of his house, took a deep breath and walked in the door. 

"Hey Paulie." Said Mike, not even looking up from him comic he was engrossed in.  

"Hey buddy." Paul replied looking over to the stairs, he was about to run them to go to the bathroom and clean the blood off his face, when Mary came around out from around the corner.

"Jesus Paul!" Mary said, running over to her eldest. "What happened? Are you alright? How much does it hurt on a scale of one to ten? Do you need pain killers? Should I take you into the Hospital? JIIIIMMMM! When did it happen? How did-"

"MUM! I'm fine, really, I just fell on the pavement and burst my lip and nose I think. I don't need pain killers, and I don't need to go to the hospital and it happened about fifteen minutes ago, whilst I was walking home."

"Jesus Paul" said Jim when he saw him.

"No need Jim, I've already said that." Said Mary

"Well what happened?" Asked Jim.

"He said he fell." Mary replied.

"I did fall." Paul said.

"So you fell and that happened to your face?" Jim interrogated further.

"Yeah, I was unlucky, I slipped and landed on a rock. That's all it was." 

"All right, well let's get you cleaned up." Mary said.

Paul sat on the dining table while his mother treated his injuries. The disinfectant stung Paul, but this wasn't the first time he had 'fallen over' so he was expecting that. 

"Thanks mum."

"It's all right Paulie, how are you feeling" 

"I'm alright, it stings a bit y'know but that's just the disinfectant."

"Yes you're right, you remember from the last time. How do you keep on falling over, Paulie." 

"You know me mum, I'm just clumsy."

"You've got watch where you're going, hun"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, just be more careful sun." Said Jim from the other side of the roommate. 

"I will. I was wondering if I could ask you a question about a word, dad? I don't know if it's a bad word though."

"Yeah, go for it"

"Dad, what is queer? And poof?" Paul asked. Jim looked at his son surprised.

"Who told you this word?"

"Erm... I heard  Thomas and Charlie having a argument and Thomas called someone they things." Paul said slowly.

"Alright, well they both mean pretty much the same thing and they are both wrong. Queer and poof. Well poof is usually short for poofter and a poofter is queer. They are both really wrong and not allowed ever." Said Jim calmly to his son who looked confused  

"Yeah but why? Why is it wrong? What is it?" Asked Paul.

"A poofter or a queer is also known as a homosexual. That's a man that wants to have sex with another man and wants to be with a man the same way you're ment to me with a woman. You remember when we had that talk about sex and your body changing and stuff right?"

"Yes, yes" Paul said quickly not wanting to have that chat ever again.

"Yeah well a poof is a man that wants to do that stuff with other men."

"Even the nice stuff like holding hands and dancing?" Paul asked

"I guess so, but that doesn't make it better, if anything that makes it worse." Jim said rather angrily. "Homosexuals are bad people, and it's illegal to be one. It's just wrong, against the laws of god. You should never look at a man the same way you look at a woman you like." He spat

"Oh, okay. I understand." There was a slightly awkward silence and eye contact for a few seconds before Paul said, "Right, well I've got some homework so I'm gonna go." Paul said.

"Okay, dinner in an hour alright?" Paul nodded his head and ran up the stairs, still confused.

(Authors note - so what do you think of chapter two?

Should I keep writing or is it crap so far?

Please leave feedback, thank you.

- Xavier)