Part Of Me

Paul cringed as the tall, muscly boys approached him from all sides.
"You're so gay!" one yelled.
"Nancy Boy!" said another.
"Fag!"
"Loser!"
As they continued to insult him, like casting arrows into his heart, though he still heard every single word and it stung just as much as the last one, he couldn't help but wonder about the logic of the whole situation. What? Just because he liked to sing and dance. That meant he was gay? It simply didn't make sense. Though, they seemed to think it did, for their teasing and taunting, even the occasional beating up seemed to be an increasingly regular occurrence.


Years later, Paul couldn't help but smile at the silence that fell over the school as he entered it for his 10 years since school reunion. Mouths dropped, eyes widened, a few even drooled, men mostly while quite a few ladies batted their eyelashes at him. He heard various murmurs of 'what's he doing here?' and 'what's he doing at our reunion?' as he passed. No one recognized him.


Unlike his high school self, Paul ten years later oozed with confidence and walked straight up to the guy who had tormented him most, Mark. The once intimidating, fearless man looked bewildered and couldn't stop blinking at the sight in front of him.
"Mmm," Paul said thoughtfully, "didn't expect Perry Roberts at your reunion did you?"
"Wh-what a-are you doing here? We never had a Perry Roberts in our class," he said and inside, Paul was jumping and screaming at the triumph. He'd made the guy speechless.
"No Perry Roberts, no. But you did have a Paul..."
A small smile crossed Paul's lips as he watched the pieces click into place in Mark's mind.
"You... You're P-P-Paul?"
"That's me alright," said Paul, "didn't recognize me?"
Slowly, Mark shook his head, a little defeated.
"Oh, and by the way, I am gay after all. Thank you for helping me figure it out," Paul said over his shoulder as he was dragged away by an excited woman.




"I can't believe I'm meeting you! My kids will be so excited! My daughter is your biggest fan."
"Really?" Paul asked, a genuine smile replacing the triumphant little smirk from before, "that's really nice to hear. Take this back to her, I'm sure she'll love it." It just so happened that Paul had a copy of his latest CD- not even released yet- in his bag. Taking a pen from his pocket, he signed the cover before handing it over to the speechless woman in front of him. Taking it from him, she turned it over in her hands before looking back up at him, wide eyed.  "This one's not even out yet... She's been talking about it though, and waiting for it... Thank you. You are such an inspiration to her and a wonderful role model. Thank you."
"It was my pleasure," Paul said with a kind smile, "she'll be the envy of all her friends."
"Indeed she will!" The woman beamed as she wandered away.


Paul sighed as more and more people began to recognize him.
"Hey Perry! Will you sing?" One yelled, and before long, more and more people joined in, shouting "sing" over and over again like a chant.
"Sure," Paul said, giving in after a while and smiling as he headed for the stage. Everyone watched with baited breath as he took the microphone and opened his mouth. There was silence for a while once he started- shock. He hadn't sung one of his own songs but instead a cover of one that had long inspired him.


By the time he'd done a few songs at the eager request of the crowd of his schoolmates, Paul was exhausted and decided to head home. But, there was one more thing.
"I just wanted to say one more thing to you," Paul said to Mark, his nose inches from the seemingly timid man's.
"There was always going to be one part of me you could never, ever take away from me. This is it."