Tales from Kingswood - Bonus Content - David's Diary (Patreon)

As we continue the countdown to book two, here's another little something I wrote to help me understand the characters better. 

David Brown may not have been the most prominent member of the dorm in Year 7, but he still built up strong bonds with all of his classmates. Below is a diary entry written by him on the final day of term. It's basically his thoughts and feelings on the boys he lives with.

Tales from Kingswood - David's Diary

All the teachers keep talking about how we should ‘reflect’ on the last year and I wasn’t really sure what they meant, but I’m sitting here now watching most of the dorm flap about wildly trying to get packed. Of course, James and I are already finished. Most of our stuff was packed last night so it just took five minutes this morning to pack up the last of it. I warned the others they’d be stressed if they left it to the last minute, but they never seem to learn!

Anyway, sitting here watching them has made me think that what I want to reflect on is… all of them! When I came to Kingswood, I didn’t have any proper friends. I had other kids at school I’d talk to sometimes, but as soon as the final bell rang they all ran off to do their own things, so I think they were JUST classmates. I expected it would be the same here. I never thought I’d find any of what I’ve found and now the more I think about it, the happier I am that I ended up where I did.

I think the best way to do this is to take them one at a time. So I guess this is dorm 1.01, from my perspective!

Chris

I love Chris, but so does everybody and I think that’s because he is just impossible not to love. Some people are huggers, some aren’t, but when Chris is around you don’t have a choice about it! He’ll hug you for anything. Good grades? Hug! Bad grades? Hug! Day ending with ‘y’? Hug! It’s so sweet and he really does give the best hugs, but I suppose that comes from lots of practice.

I think a lot of his hugging and staying close to people is because he misses his family so much. He’s got seven brothers and sisters and it sounds like they’re all really close, so it must have been really tough to come here and leave them all behind. I don’t really know how that feels being an only child, but the way he talks about them is just so sweet and he gets SO excited every Thursday when he’s going to be having his weekly video call with them.

I don’t think it’s possible to mention Chris without mentioning Danny! Most of us seemed to find our ‘person’ pretty quick after we arrived here, but Chris and Danny were something else! I remember hearing Chris climb out of his bunk on the first night and get into Danny’s. I wasn’t sure what was going on. I thought it might have been a sex thing (I didn’t know much back then!!) but it became pretty clear right away those two were just meant for each other. I don’t know if they’ll end up ‘together’ together, or just like ‘BFFs’ together, but I know that no matter what, where Chris goes, Danny goes!

Chris was the first one in the dorm to get a boyfriend, or at least one we knew about (see the Nicky section for more on that!) when he started dating Kyle from dorm 1.04. He was so happy, even by his standards. We were a bit shocked, we were sure he was gonna end up dating Danny, but Kyle showed up and they were great… until they weren’t. It ended badly and for a minute it looked like him and Danny were gonna fall out for good, but I think a lot of that was made worse by ‘The Incident’ (see the Josh section!!)

Anyway, Chris managed to bounce back and he’s totally back to his usual loving, huggy self. I get to spend a fair bit of time with Chris as we both go to swimming club a few times a week. It’s always fun anyway, but being able to go with friends just makes it even better. We also both go to book club and even though we’re meant to talk about the book at the meeting, me and Chris always chat about it over breakfast.

When he’s not at any of his clubs, Chris loves so many things. He reads almost as much as I do and he’s always playing on his guitar. He likes to do both down in the school’s gardens, which he loves too. A few times I’ve walked round the gardens with him and he can’t stop talking about all the different plants and stuff, it’s really cute. He likes listening to music as much as he does playing it, and it’s not unusual for him to sneakily slip an earbud in during a boring class.

So that’s Chris – a music-loving, hug-giving, bookworm.

Danny

Danny was the first friend I made at Kingswood. I can still remember how scared I was walking into the dorm that first day and when Danny spoke to me, I was about ready to cry, but right from the start he was just so kind and nice and fun. Right away we just became friends and one of my favourite memories of all time is that first day, wandering round and exploring the school with Danny.

Danny became best mates with Chris just as quickly and it was amazing to see. I felt a tiny bit jealous at the beginning because Danny was my friend and suddenly Chris had swooped in, but it’s impossible to see them together and not just love everything about them. The others were all convinced they’d end up dating, but I knew they’d just be friends and I was right.

One of the weirdest things about Danny is that he doesn’t even seem to be aware of most of the cool things about himself. He’s really cute but isn’t vain. He’s got an amazing body from going to the gym everyday and although he’s naked a lot, he’s not really a show-off. He’s so caring and considerate of everyone around him and asks for nothing in return. Most of all though, he’s brave! The day Josh nearly committed suicide, I saw him up on the roof and I was SO scared, but Danny was up there with him and actually saved his life. He’s a hero and he inspires me to be brave too.

I think he gets up to a lot of stuff that the rest of us don’t know about, but that’s okay. We’re close but we don’t need to know everything about each other. He’s around when we need him. He brings out the best in people. James may be my best friend, but Danny will always be my first!

I don’t wanna say too much more about Danny, except that I never got to have brothers before, but if I did ever have one, I’d want him to be just like Danny.

James

James is my best friend. Most people don’t get him, but that’s okay because he just doesn’t like most people. He’s a bit of a moody git half the time and thinks he’s better than everyone, which sounds awful… even if it’s true in a lot of ways!

People always say I’m smart, but that’s just because I remember things I’m told, I pay attention in class and learn what I’m supposed to learn, but James is on a whole other level! He actually studies ahead, and I’m not just talking what’s in the next class, I mean literally years ahead. We’re about start the Year 8 curriculum and he’s already through that and most of Year 9, even studying some Year 10 stuff. And he doesn’t just remember all of it, he understands it! He’s easily the smartest person I’ve ever met.

Despite how he seems to other people, James is really fun too. He doesn’t allow himself a lot of time for doing things outside of studying because he always says it’s a waste of valuable time, but we still manage to find time to play video games together, or chess (he always wins). He likes the same TV shows and movies as me too, although he’s a crazy person who thinks Kirk is the best Captain in Star Trek. WRONG!

James is a lot like me too, in that we both seem to be slow developers. Half the dorm are unlocked and off doing crazy sex things while we’re still locked. I can’t wait to start developing and get out of this chastity device, but James isn’t even slightly bothered about it. He says sex is just another waste of time that people spend too much time thinking about. I think about what it’ll be like when I can do stuff and I think I’d like it if I can do that stuff with James! He’s really cute x

Josh

Thinking about Josh normally makes me either want to cry, or just feel stupidly proud! So part way through Year 7, Josh considered killing himself. It turned out he had been getting abused by his big brothers for most of his life. It got worse when he got to Kingswood and made friends, because his brothers hated seeing Josh happy, so they threatened him and threatened to hurt us too. Eventually Josh reached the point where killing himself felt like the only way to keep us safe. Thankfully, Danny helped him make the right decision and things for Josh got SO much better after that.

What makes me want to cry is knowing he spent so long being so miserable and we never even knew. I can’t even imagine what it feels like to think about killing yourself. Sometimes I want to ask him about it, just to try and understand better, but I know I can’t. It’s just horrible thinking about how low he must have felt to see that as his only way out.

The bit that makes me proud is how well he’s bounced back. He’s got a new family now, which just seems to make him really happy, but despite spending ten years being abused, he’s still a loving, friendly, fun person who I love to be around and who makes every day more fun. I’ve never been through stuff like he has, and hopefully I never do, but if I did I would hope I can be as tough as Josh and just get through it. I know Danny gets called a hero a lot for what happened on the roof, but Josh is my hero too. He was literally willing to put his own life on the line to protect the people he cared about and I consider myself lucky to have a friend like that in my life.

Mikey

Mikey’s a bit scary sometimes. At the start of the year, he was just mean and SO moody, but once he started making friends he seemed to become a lot happier. The more happy he is, the less scary he becomes. His moods still flare up sometimes, but having Chris, Nicky and Danny around him seems to keep him pretty calm most of the time.

Even though he comes across very ‘grr, arrgh’ he’s definitely got a softer side. I saw it really early on in the year on Chris’ birthday when he thought about pooling our winnings at the arcade to get a really cool gift for the whole dorm. It’s the sort of thing most guys wouldn’t even think of. It’s just a side he keeps very well hidden, but I know it’s there.

Something else Mikey hides is that he talks to himself a lot. He usually does it when he thinks nobody is watching, but it still slips out sometimes when he’s around us. He always looks a bit embarrassed and doesn’t seem to want anyone to know, so I’d never say anything – I wouldn’t want to embarrass him. Not that it’s anything bad. I talk to myself sometimes too. I used to do it a lot when I was lonely (which was often). I wonder if that’s why Mikey does it too. Maybe we’re more alike that I realise… or maybe we’re just both crazy lol.

Nicky

Nicky is SO funny. He’s always making me laugh, although half the time his jokes are at my expense. I can be pretty gullible, but I know he doesn’t mean anything bad. I’d love to be as funny as him and sometimes I do get people to laugh, so when I do I try to play it cool like Nicky does.

He was really shy at the beginning of the year, even more than me, but as soon as he gets to know someone that just disappears, but he still doesn’t handle new people overly well. It’s really confusing because he’s mature and funny and so cool and that should make him the most popular guy in school, but it’s like he hides away from attention.

He’s more than just funny though. He’s really kind and smart too. I remember back in the first term when we all got pranked and ended up sitting in class butt-naked, he was the only one who I felt like I could talk to about how embarrassing it was. Chris and Danny seem to like being naked, most the others weren’t that bothered, but Nicky hated it even more than I did. He was really nice the way he talked to me about it. I’ll never forget that.

Nicky’s a musician too, just like Chris, and he’s seriously good. He’s probably better on the guitar than Chris (don’t tell him I said that) and he can play other instruments as well. Chris is the better singer, but Nicky still sings well too. Music’s one of those subjects I’ll just always suck at, which makes what they can do even more impressive to me.

There IS one thing about Nicky that annoys me though… his height. He’s the tallest in the year and I’m one of the shortest (he’s ten months older than me!!) and sometimes if we’re standing together, he props his arm up on the top of my head cos he says I’m the perfect height for it. Everyone always laughs. I guess it’s kinda funny really.

Rob

Rob’s our designated grown-up lol. He’s really mature and really smart. Not necessarily book-smart like James, more like just very insightful and has a lot of common sense. There are two Robs sometimes. There’s the grown-up one who keeps us all in line and breaks up arguments and helps people out, but then there’s this silly, fun side to him too, but he doesn’t seem to let that side out very often.

A lot of the dorm treat me like a little brother, which is usually kinda nice, but Rob really does it a lot. I know he does it to look after me, but I think it helps him too. He has a little brother called Milo and Rob’s just crazy about him. They’re best friends and every time we come back from a break, I can always see how much Rob misses him. I think he treats me like a substitute for Milo sometimes, which I don’t mind.

Rob’s amazing at rugby and because he’s so sensible and people tend to listen to him, I’d put money on his being named the Year 8 rugby captain next year. That’ll be really cool because I know how well he’ll do with it. Rob does well at most things anyway. I don’t think he even knows how to give less than 100%.

The best thing about Rob though is just how much he loves his best friend. This year was hard on a lot of us, but Rob especially. He knew something was wrong with Josh and did what he could to figure it out and help, so I think he was kinda bummed out that it ended up being Danny that helped him when he was suicidal. That was just one day though. Rob’s always there for Josh and he’s always worrying about him. It’s so sweet. I think Josh and the whole dorm really are really lucky to have Rob.