Chapter One – Cassidy is Queen

I laughed, rubbing my hands over my face, pulling on my hair then holding my hands firm on my head. My chest rose and fell as I turned my head. Marley smiled back at me before lying back onto the pillow, closing his eyes as I looked around the room that we’d fallen into.

It was a spare bedroom, I think; it didn’t appear to have any personality behind it. It definitely didn’t belong to Lucah, whose house this was. The party was loud below and around us, the music almost making the floor vibrate, the sound of laughter distant from the room we were in.

Marley had found me. I hadn’t been looking for sex, not tonight. I’d been stood with a vodka and Coke watching as my brother and his boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed the party and it had been amusing me, then Marley had appeared at my side, his own drink in hand, and we spoke.

We spoke about Christmas.

We spoke about his trip to see Hamilton over the break.

We spoke about going back to school.

We spoke about what we thought the musical might be this coming summer.

Then, we kissed, and then we fell into this lacklustre bedroom.

There was a blower on the bedside table. Silver with multicoloured strips. I rose it to my lips. I blew into it, creating a light tooting sound, then laughed as Marley opened his eyes and looked at me. He grinned as I blew into it again, making a far better sound.

“Happy New Year,” I whispered; Marley laughed, placing a kiss on my lips. I held the back of his head, keeping the kiss as tame as I could make it. When he moved away, lying back on the bed, I got up out of it and began to get dressed. I smiled at Marley as I pulled my cable-knit sweater over my head. I rubbed my hands over my arms before sitting on the bed to put on my shoes. I blew a kiss to him as I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket and left the room.

Kennedy, my twin brother, the King, was leant against the wall in the hallway, on his own phone as he waited. I nudged his elbow. His arm rose and almost let go of his phone. He looked at me, then he smiled.

“What are you doing?” I whispered. He nodded to the door we were stood next to.

“Waiting for Stephen.” He watched my face as I frowned. “This is the bathroom.”

“Ah.”

“Where have you been?”

“Bedroom,” I murmured. “Marley.”

He had a knowing look on his face, clearly understanding how we’d gotten into the bedroom, especially so early in the party. “Hey,” he whispered, lifting my chin with his fist. I looked into his eyes. “Okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed, then I laughed as if to prove I was, in fact, okay. “I’m just concerned Marley might start to believe we’re exclusive. I can’t have that.”

“He adores you; you can see it in his eyes.”

“He’s good with his tongue, but no,” I said simply. Kennedy smiled. “You, sweetheart, are the monogamous one.” He laughed as the bathroom door opened. His boyfriend Stephen appeared through it, smiling.

They were our modern-day Romeo and Juliet case. Stephen, the goalkeeper of our school’s football team, the lowest of the low in the school hierarchy, or at least they had been. Since his relationship with the King had been revealed to the entire school through a ridiculously romantic grand gesture planned by my brother, the football team had been gaining popularity in such a way that was unheardof.

My brother was the King. The, all things considered, highest of the high. He ruled the school and everybody in it, and he had done for the last three years. He was cool and collected. Well liked amongst our peers and completely fair in everything he did. He played the saxophone in our school orchestra; five-time national champions, thank you very much.

They were quite the handsome couple, which wasn’t lost on most of the school. The ideal couple to stick on the poster and proclaim that Happily Ever Afters exist.

I, however, was the Queen.

I ruled the theatre department, and most of the school behind Kennedy’s back. I fitted more in to the villainrole of the story. If Kennedy is the King, who gets his Prince Charming, I’m the Evil Queen who has a whole lot of sex, and shouts at mirrors for not telling me I’m beautiful. I wasn’t due a happily ever after any time soon.

Especially not with Marley.

I sat in the garden as the countdown to midnight began, a bottle of beer between my first two fingers. A fire roared in a metal bin in front of me. Most of the boys from my theatre were sat around me, all with their own drinks.

Kennedy and Stephen sat on the garden chairs next to me, counting down from ten with the rest of the party.

Fireworks shot up into the sky, exploding in quick concession; boys kissed around me. Their boyfriends, their best friends or their fucks for the night.

I smiled softly as Kennedy wrapped his arms around Stephen. They shared a simple kiss and then a happy smile, leaning their foreheads against each other’s, wishing the other a Happy New Year and many happy returns.

I drank more beer, almost choking on it as Kennedy stood from where he was sat, wrapping his arms around my body and kissing my cheek.

“Happy New Year, Queen,” he said into my ear.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and placed a light peck on his lips. “Happy New Year, darling,” I replied.

We sat before the principal and most of the teachers. We hardly saw the principal; I had to take a double take on the woman who wore a fierce pantsuit because I didn’t recognise her as the head of our school. There were the heads of every subject, all sat looking as if they wished this meeting was already over.

There was the orchestra conductor, Otis.

The theatre director, Finn.

There was Kennedy, the King, and there was me, the Queen.

We’d been invited to the first staff meeting of the year, because it was getting dangerously close to us leaving the school and decisions had to be made. It turned out the teaching staff cared more about the student monarchy than any of us ever realised. It turned out, whoever the mostpopular student was had a huge impact on how the school was viewed.

Currently, the school had quite a solid reputation, with the twin sons of the one-day prime minister, both of them openly gay, one of them a prize-winning saxophonist, the other a strong support of trans rights and the lead of the theatre.

We represented current politics – although somewhat unwillingly – LGBTQ representation, and support for the arts. We kept the funding rolling in, all things considered. Now, we needed a new King, who would rule as fairly as Kennedy and as freely as me.

“Are any of the young men in the band… eligible?” the principal asked. Otis rifled through his pages.

Kennedy seemed thoughtful. “Who’s the next oldest?” he asked.

Otis laughed. “Oh no, son, we’re not leaving the school to Georgie,” he said.

“I retract that so hard; Georgie is the next oldest, my god,” Kennedy said, laughing.

“Exactly,” Otis mused. Finn smirked at me and I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh out loud.

“What about Malakai?” I said. Kennedy and Otis seemed surprised. “Isn’t he a businessman’s son?”

“I think so,” Otis said, “and a stunning violinist.”

The table seemed to agree. Kennedy squeezed my knee in approval.

“How old is he, Otis?” Finn asked.

Otis raised his eyes to the sky, as if asking God for the answer. “Fifteen,” he said warily.

“Malakai Anderson?” the subject lead of English said. “He’s fifteen. He’s in my fourth year English.”

“Good choice, Queen,” Finn said. I winked at him.

“Yes, good suggestion Cassidy.” The principal smiled, a warm smile, so I returned it.

I closed my locker, then I jumped, laughing softly to try my damned best to disguise the fact that my soul had just left my body in fright.

“Archie,” I purred.

Archie grinned back at me, his braces twinkling in the artificial light of the corridors. He hugged his books to his chest, his eyes wide as they always were. “Did you have a good Christmas my Queen?” he asked, a joking tone to his voice that had only developed this year – the joking tone that is, not his voice. That was yet to break.

“Oh yes, yourself peasant?”

He laughed, the sound happy. “I thought I had been promoted to your servant,” he said.

“True,” I said lightly, then kissed his cheek. They instantly turned bright red, his shoulders raising to almost his ears. God he was adorable.

He’d found me on his second day of his first year. I’d just been crowned Queen, and the auditions for the theatre were coming up. The first few weeks of school buzz was everywhere, and I’d had many younger years linger around me, trying to get a place in the ensemble.

Archie appeared beside my locker a little bit lost, and a whole lot scared, clutching onto a book of the musical CATS, and not much else. He hadn’t been purposely looking for me; no, he’d been looking for the theatre, because he wanted to audition and he didn’t want to be late.

I told him he was lucky, as that was where I was going.

He asked if he could come with me.

He got into the ensemble, blowing Finn and me away despite his nerves and tremors, and then he kind of stuck. He had friends of his own, I knew that; he hung around with the other boys in his year who had got into the theatre, but he always appeared beside me at least once a day, to give me updates, to let me know what everyone is whispering about. He was like my own Zazu delivering me the morning report.

He was thirteen now, third year, and I wish him King one day, but a theatre boy had never been King and I didn’t know if that’d ever change. Maybe he’d make a nice Queen after all.

“Is Theo enjoying New York?”

“I would think so,” I said. “He’ll be back by next week. Is that all anyone’s talking about?”

“No, the obvious is still buzzing.”

“Kennedy and Stephen?”

“Yeah. Mostly positive. Whispers of Devon.”

“Why?” I asked as I closed my locker.

“Falling from grace, should I say? It’s becoming public knowledge what he did to Kennedy. There were still some blurred lines, but now I think most know.”

“Interesting,” I said cheerfully. “Thank you baby, you’re invaluable to me.”

He buried his nose in his books, but smiled none the less. I went to walk away, but he reached for my arm. “I wanted to tell you something else,” he said, then quickly took his hand off my arm. I nodded to him, telling him to go ahead. “I’m…” He paused then closed his eyes. “Fuck’s sake.”

I laughed, covering my mouth with my hand. “Archie sweetheart, what is it?”

He sighed, keeping his eyes closed. “I’m gay,” he said quickly.

It took all my effort not to point out he was stating the obvious. Instead, I hugged him. He squeaked in excitement. “I’m so proud of you. Is there a boy, is that why?”

“Yes,” he said shyly. “Updates will come as they happen.”

“Who is it?” I asked. He sighed as he flushed. “I could put in a good word.”

“No, no Cassidy,” he said, laughing. “No, I love you, Queen, but please don’t.”

I crossed my heart. He smiled.

“Oscar,” he said, then sighed.

“In the theatre?”

“He’s the year below me,” he whispered. “I don’t know if… it can happen.”

“It can,” I said, “and if it’s meant to, it will.”

“Really?”

“Like Kennedy and Stephen…” I said. “Like me and…”

“Why aren’t you boys in the theatre? Isn’t that where you’re supposed to be?” Finn asked.

“Isn’t that where you’re supposed to be?” I replied. Finn quirked his eyebrow at me, waving his arm in the direction of the theatre, so we went.

“You and who?” Archie asked as we walked behind Finn.

I looked at him, then at Finn. “Me and the role of Anne Boleyn, of course,” I said.

Archie laughed cheerfully. “Of course.”

He practically skipped through the door Finn was holding open to the theatre. I stepped through after him, smiling at Finn as he passed me half the sheets in his hands.

Kennedy and Cody were talking, throwing a ball back and forth between their beds as their conversation grew excited and louder, interspersed with manic laughter. I had sat and listened for some of the conversation but soon grew bored, lifting my headphones over my ears and blasting the Waitress soundtrack around my head.

I tuned in occasionally, especially when Kennedy mentioned Stephen, intrigued but zoning out pretty quickly. I missed Theo.

It had been the four of us in this room since our first day of first year. Kennedy and me, Cody the celloist in the orchestra and Theo, a theatre boy like me. Theo was my very best friend who knew the deepest, darkest secrets about me, and currently he was galivanting around New York to celebrate his eighteenth birthday.

I was envious and I wasn’t hiding it, and I felt like pouting because Kennedy had his best friend Cody and I didn’t have anyone to play with, so instead I blasted the delicious tones of Jessie Mueller and actually attempted to complete my homework, because I literally had nothing better to do.

I jumped when I was touched, looking up then throwing my headphones off and leaping on Theo as he laughed and hugged me back.

“When did you get home?”

“Just.” He shook his head. “Yesterday. I’ve literally been sleeping all day. Dad woke me up, told me I better get to school.” He laughed as I hugged him again.

“Tell me all about it. I need to know everything. What was Broadway like? Times Square? The Empire State?”

“It was…” He sighed contently. “Incredible.”