INVICTUS

V

At their marble feet

The stilted crucifixes

Crumble in the shadows

As one by one

The candles wink out

I finish up the last knot of my tie and push back the unruly bronze curls, but they fall back into their usual dishevelled place. Maybe I should get that haircut my mum suggested. She was always complaining about it. I look back up at the mirror. I try to emulate Salih's approach to self confidence. I wink at myself and pop out a few awkward finger guns.

"Rhys Adam Heinlein, you are one fine man."

I guess I have Aaron to thank for that. His fashionable eyes truly works miracles. If someone asked me what I loved and hated most about my physical appearance. I would say, that I loved the light spray of freckles over my nose and some parts of my body. What I hated was my build. But Aaron made it look like more of an asset than a liability. It made my tall lanky body less awkward more...graceful.

I make my way downstairs only to be greeted by my mother holding out her camera hopefully.

"Callista," my father warns. "He's not five. You know how much his generation hate having their photo taken."

"Eliot have you seen their Instagrams?" She huffs. "Half of them are nudes."

I've never felt comfortable about posting even a shirtless picture let alone a nude. Clearly she's never seen my feed, it's full of books, chocolate, Salih's derps, the occasional poetry and probably only two pictures of me.

"One picture can't hurt." I say smiling. I might even update my profile picture, which was currently a photo of my dog Simba.

Mum grins and drags Aaron off his video-gaming ass making us pose together. She makes us take at least a thousand pictures before we got leave to go. We rush into Dad's car with Aaron by my side.

"Jenny Chang right?" I ask.

Yeah, my brother was lucky enough to land a date.

"Yeah," he says.

"Girlfriend?"

"Not yet."

"Good luck." I tell him noting the nervous tapping of his foot.

I finally turn the corner to the school. Once I park the car, Aaron rushes over to join his date. I turn to see my friends standing just outside the hall.

Once again we engage in the weird-bro-chest-bump-secret-handshake-thing. I notice none of them have dates. I knew it wasn't because they couldn't get them.

"You losers couldn't get dates either."

"We could." Said James. "But we didn't, besides, it more fun going stag."

"Yeah you get to dance with anyone." Says Seth.

We make our way inside, where the music was playing softly and the loudest thing in the room was the sound of students talking to each other.

After the usual formalities (which I won't go into any detail because I am sure it will bore you all to death) the music starts getting louder.

Every time I'm at some sort of party or gathering where dancing is involved, I initially try to blend into the background. A wallflower. But after a while its as if someone injects a neurotic drug in me and suddenly I don't want to be a a pale wallflower but the gilded rose at the centre of it all. After a while. I see the beauty of it. The rapid beat of the music pulses through the room, giving you an impression that you're in your own beating heart. The anthem of my generation flashes through a million fractured kaleidoscopes, shining down on us all.