Pete was the school gay boy. Well, actually he wasn’t. Gay that is, in the sense of happy etc. He was probably the gloomiest student in our high school. He made no secret of his liking boys though. It was so blatant that it had become a trope. We didn’t talk about gay people, we talked about pete people. We soon learned to live with his ooogling. Pete was definitely not a menace to anyone. He was the most non-aggressive person I have ever met. Besides, he was such a puny kid that the threat factor was in negative numbers.

I’m ashamed to admit that Pete was ridiculed. I was among the offenders. I think that many others also had a problem with handling his constant gloominess rather than his sexual orientation.

Pete was also the victim of various pranks. I got involved in one of the less nasty ones. As a result of losing a bet I was to ask Pete for a date. Since Pete wasn’t stupid I’d expected him to say not. To my surprise he accepted. When I explained why I had asked him and why he had accepted he told me that he had expected something like that. Otherwise, I’d never had asked him. On the other hand he considered me to be “honorable”. If I asked him for a date I’d be honor-bound to make it a real one. Damn him! Now I really had to make it a proper date.

I did plan the best date I could. I dressed up. I told Pete to dress up. I even met the parents before taking Pete away. Everything by the book. The date was not inexpensive but, as it turned out, well worth the money. Pete was actually fun when he forgot to be gloomy. We talked a lot. To the surprise of both of us we found out things about ourselves that we were unaware of or tried to suppress. We both promised to think things over during the weekend and then meet again Sunday night. I followed Pete to his porch. There Pete took my head in both his hands and brought my head down to his and then proceeded to kiss me. A long lingering kiss. That was when it really brought home to me what I had begun to realize only earlier that evening. That kiss was life-changing.

On Monday very little work was done in school. Our teachers spent hours in meetings and when actually trying to do some teaching the students were too distracted to get any work done. All for a dress, a pair of pantyhose, some light make-up, continuous handholding and a glorious smile. Oh, that was it! The smile. Pete couldn’t stop smiling. Pete was supremely happy and gay. Gay in the original meaning of the word.

I kissed a girl, and I liked it.