Kingswood Interview Week - Prologue (Patreon)

Welcome to the Kingswood Book Three bonus story! This story is posted exclusively for my patrons and will follow the boys during Interview Week as they take part on choosing the new batch of Year 7s.

While the choice has already been made for who each of them will be choosing, I'd love to hear your thoughts on which of the boys you'd like to see show up on book four, so feel free to put your thoughts in the comments.

This is just the prologue, but a new part will be posted each day over the next week showing each of the boys in their own chapter. I hope you enjoy. And now, away we go...

Kingswood Interview Week - Prologue

Monday 17 January 2022

Being home to eight boys, dorm 1.09 could often feel crowded, especially now they took up substantially more space (both physically and emotionally) as mature Year 9 students than they had when they joined Kingswood two-and-a-half years earlier. Today though, the dorm was fuller than usual. The dorm’s eight occupants sat gathered on the sofas, facing the eight Year 12 boys who had been their mentors since they joined the school.

It was a rare occasion to have all the mentors together in their dorm. In fact, the last time it had happened was the day Danny and Chris had gone missing in the woods back when they were in Year 8. Lively as the dorm was now, the gathering certainly brought back memories of that day for some, which only acted to stop the gathering from becoming too lively. Admittedly the more recent gathering that had taken place outside of the dorm had been more fun – a ritualistic circle jerk, intended to bond the boys. But still, tonight felt much more serious than that!

One of the (many) things that set Kingswood apart from other schools was its mentor program. It had evolved over the centuries Kingswood had existed into what it was today. Now, each new Year 7 student who joined the school got assigned a Year 10 mentor on their first day. The idea being that they would act as guide, advisor, teacher, confidante and surrogate ‘big brother’ to the new arrivals. They would guide their new fledgling ‘mentees’ through their first three years at the school, until they were ready to take on a mentoring role of their own as they entered their fourth year.

It was still eight months until the eight boys of dorm 1.09 would actually become mentors, but for that to happen, there was something important they needed to get through first – Interview Week! Applications to Kingswood massively outweighed the student capacity, which meant getting in was tough. The school only took the best of the best, but in the true spirit of Kingswood that did not necessarily mean just those with the best grades and test results. While grades certainly mattered and the boys of school were academically advanced, they also took into consideration other areas of excellence - sports, music, art, academic pursuits, or sometimes just those who had that little spark of something special about them. Interview week was the final step of the application process, when the top potential candidates were narrowed down to the final list of those who would join the school the following September as the new Year 7 class.

While the young candidates faced a direct interview, accompanied by their parents, with the school’s Headmaster, that was just part of the final stage, almost a cover for the real test. Each of the boys of dorm 1.09 would get to spend a little time with a small selection of potential candidates following their interviews. The aim was simple – to secretly establish their compatibility with the school’s ethos. After all, who could know the qualities needed to thrive at the school better than those who had been through it already. It was the time when a sacred bond between mentor and mentee would experience its first breath of life.

“Okay, okay, quiet down,” Andy called out to the quietly chattering boys and their mentors. “Now, dipshits!” he added when they didn’t immediately fall silent.

“Geez, who made him boss?” Mikey asked, rolling his eyes at his mentor.

“Umm, we did, actually!” Brian quickly replied. “We had a vote and everything. So shut your trap and listen, you…” he turned to face Andy and asked, “What was it? Oh yeah!” He turned back to Mikey and finished, “Dipshit!”

“Danny, control your man!” Mikey smirked at his friend.

“Maybe later!” Danny replied, winking playfully at his boyfriend. Brian shook his head in return but smirked, particularly when Mikey tutted and rolled his eyes.

“Are we done?” Andy asked, clearly annoyed at the continuing chatter. Getting a casual shrug from Brian and a grunt from Mikey, he said, “Right, you’ve probably guessed why we’ve gathered you all here!”

“Orgy?” Chris asked with a grin, looking curiously at Danny.

“Orgy!” Danny nodded at Chris then looked round at the others who all nodded.

“Yeah, orgy!” “Definitely orgy!” “An orgy seemed likely!” the other boys chorused.

“No!” Andy said firmly, then raised an eyebrow and started, “Although maybe we have time to…” but stopped as he saw the disapproving glare from his peers. “No, not an orgy. It’s about the interviews!”

“Are they cancelled?” Josh asked, sounding hopeful.

“Is someone else doing them?” Nicky asked with equal fervour.

“Orgy?” Chris repeated, smirking as the other younger boys all stifled a giggle.

Andy cast an annoyed glare across the whole group, lingering on Chris for a moment. “I hope you remember this day when you’re doing this for your own ungrateful little mentees!” he growled, mostly serious.

“Mentees? Like… the things you put in coke to make it explode?” Josh asked sincerely.

“No, that’s mentos!” Josh’s mentor, Dick, said as he shook his head at the boy’s obliviousness. “Mentees as in… people who have mentors!” As Josh still looked blank, Dick gestured to himself and his Year 12 compatriots and said, “MenTORS!” then gestured to Josh and the other Year 9s and said, “MenTEES!”

“How did it take me two years to learn that?” Josh mumbled, blushing slightly.

“Oh god, I really thought he was just joking!” Dick said in disbelief to the other mentors. “I’m a failure as a mentor!”

“Yeah, but if you can make coke explode out of a bottle you’d at least be a successful mento!” Brian said with a casual shrug.

“Oh god, shut up!” Andy huffed, despite the clearly amused bunch of giggling younger boys. “Right, next person who speaks gets a dead leg!” he warned the room. “So the first interviews are… AAARGH!” he yelled out as Brian gave him a dead leg.

“You did say next person who talks!” Brian said as he took cover behind a couple of the others, getting even more laughs.

Andy’s increasingly furious glare soon shut everyone up though. “So…” he started, scowling Brian’s way, “The first interviews are tomorrow. David, Mikey, you’re up first so you’ll need to be up and ready to leave at seven tomorrow. Danny, Nicky, you’ll be Wednesday. Chris and Mark, you’re up on Thursday. Then we finish Friday with Rob and Josh.”

“Why’ve we gotta go first?” Mikey grumbled.

“Because the alphabet!” David answered, having easily picked up the surname-based order. He looked to Andy and asked, “Right?”

“Right he is!” Andy nodded. “Your mentors will come with you and will be there for support if needed, but ONLY in emergencies. You’re expected to do this by yourselves!” He gave the group of boys a stern look that sofetened slightly as he said, “But we know you’re all completely capable of doing a great job!”

“Even Josh?” Rob asked, pointing to his best friend, eyebrows raised.

Normally an insult from Rob would be met with an insult back, but Josh just nodded, pointed to himself and asked, “Yeah, even Josh?”

“Don’t worry, you’ve got it,” Dick assured him. It got a sweet but unconvinced smile back from the younger boy.

“And so have the rest of you!” Andy insisted. “Seriously, you think we didn’t go through this exact same thing when we were in year nine?”

“Pfft, you didn’t do year nine!” Mikey scoffed. “You all appeared fully formed as year tens. You didn’t even exist before we came along!” The comment drew sudden silence as he actually sounded absolutely sincere in his assertion.

The others exchanged looks that ranged from confused to genuinely thoughtful before Andy shook his head and said, “Anyway… we’re gonna give you a bit of information and share some tips to make sure it goes as well as possible. Then if you have any questions, we’ll… do what we can to answer them! So, for now, I’ll hand you over to Joseph!”

“They’re so professional!” Chris sniggered, slightly mockingly.

“You SO know they rehearsed this!” Nicky muttered back, the two giggling together.

“Quiet down, you two!” Joseph said, giving his most intimidating glare… which was in no way actually intimidating. “So, the interviews. Why do we do ‘em?” he asked openly.

“Because you’re making us!” Mikey quickly interjected. The younger boys laughed for a moment.

Ignoring the heckle, Joseph went on, “Because these boys will… or at least SHOULD… become some of the most important people to you outside of this room.” He paused for a moment to let it sink in with the younger boys. “You will be responsible for them. It’s up to you to teach them the way things work, to help them get settled in, to help them get used to the, umm… chastity devices, but most importantly to help them be happy here!”

As Joseph’s words began to resonate, the joking stopped. Sitting there looking at their mentors, the boys realised how right they were to treat this seriously. Each of them had been guided by the older boys during their first couple of years at the school and, with varying degrees of success, they had all mostly done a great job. Now it was their turn to continue the cycle.

“You guys know what Kingswood is like. You know the things that go on here, you know the people that live here and that means you know who’ll fit in and be the right addition to the family,” Joseph went on. To an outside observer it might have sounded like he was laying it on a little thick, but one thing almost every student who passed through the school agreed on was that it was, effectively, one giant family. “Now remember, while Kingswood isn’t exclusively a gay… or bisexual… school, it IS something that is strongly encouraged in order to get the best experience, but as I’m sure some of you recall… or may still be feeling now… that is NOT always something everyone will know at that age. We still encourage you to try and establish at least the likelihood of it, but… not at the expense of hurting or upsetting anyone. How you go about that is up to you. You know the ways we did it with you, but I’m sure you have ideas of your own which we encourage you to explore.”

Some of the younger boys exchanged looks. Early on in their time at the school, they had shared details of their own interview experiences, so they had all heard the variety of ways they had been ‘tested’ themselves.

“Anyway, that’s WHY we do what we do. Now for HOW we do it… it’s Brian’s turn to say stuff!” Joseph smirked. “You do talk at them now!” he prompted his best friend.

“Yeah, thanks Joe,” Brian said, shaking his head as the younger boys laughed at the slight self-mockery of their skit. “So, as I’m sure you all remember, when the new boys arrive, they’ll be shown to the waiting area outside the interview room. Once they go in, you will be stationed outside, waiting. When Mr Everett gets done with his questions, he’ll send the boy out to wait with you while he speaks to their parents. That’s when you have your chance! You’ll have around twenty to thirty minutes to ‘get to know them’, to establish their… potential interest in other boys and most importantly, determine if they are the right fit for both being a student at Kingswood and for having you as their future mentor.”

“Jesus, that’s not long!” Josh commented nervously.

“Josh is used to hearing that!” Rob said to the others, grinning.

Brian held back a chuckle and managed to remain on subject. “You’re right. It’s NOT long and you definitely need to be careful about judging on first impressions alone,” Brian said seriously, then grinned as he added, “I mean, I thought Chris was a right dick at first!”

“And it still hasn’t changed!” Nicky said, playfully throwing an arm around Chris.

Chris nestled against Nicky and said, “Not even gonna complain about the insult as I got a hug out of it!”

Brian smiled at the two boys, always happy to see them back on good terms after their rocky start to the year. “But seriously,” he said with a nod, “It’s NOT easy, but like Andy said, we know you can do it! Now, any questions?”

Chris threw his hand in the air and without waiting for a prompt blurted out, “Whadda we do if they’re straight?”

“Maintain eye contact and back away slowly!” Andy blurted out.

“That’s lions!” Joseph said, shaking his head. “Just drop to the floor and play dead!” he suggested.

“Pretty sure that’s for bears!” Andy replied. “I know. Distract them with boobs!”

Before anyone else could respond, David sat up, squeezed his arms in towards his chest as he thrust it out ahead of him and declared, “Okay, I’m on it!”

The entire room burst into laughter at the chubby boy’s self-deprecation.

“Hey,” Mark said disapprovingly, throwing one arm around David’s shoulders, the other playfully grabbing one of his moobs. “You got a lot less boob than you used to, ya know!”

“I know,” David giggled, “But I’ve still got plenty left to jiggle!” He bounced for comedic effect.

“David, you’re adorable,” Brian said with a smirk, “But we really need to stay on topic or we’ll be here all night!”

Danny bit his lip and let out a moan. “Ugh, I love when he takes charge!” he purred to nobody in particular.

“Okay,” Joseph said, pretending not to hear his mentee’s comment, “If they’re straight… just… don’t choose them, okay!” He shrugged and added, “Well, not unless you really feel they’re the right choice. We DO have straight guys here, it’s not against the rules, we just… tend to favour the alternative sexualities but open-minded straights who know how to have fun are okay!”

“Yeah, straights are people too, ya know,” Brian sniggered. “Okay, next?” A few hands raised. He pointed and asked, “Mikey?”

“What if they won’t tell us if they’re into guys? How do we make ‘em?” Mikey asked slightly menacingly.

Andy shook his head and said, “We don’t MAKE anyone do anything. If you can’t get a read on them, then… maybe they’re just not the right choice for you anyway!” As he saw Mikey go to raise his hand again he added, “And no, you can’t just beat it out of them!”

“Yeah, this is Kingswood. It’s more ‘beat them off’ than ‘beat them up’!” Nicky said with a smile, getting a mixture of laughs and agreements.

More hands raised again and Josh was called on this time. Cautiously, he asked, “What if we… make the wrong choice?” His anxiety over the interviews had been obvious for some time, but as he now faced the inevitable day, it was becoming absolutely unmissable.

“If you do… this happens!” Brian grinned, gesturing to the gathering of Year 9 boys. Most of them laughed but a couple looked genuinely worried. He sighed slightly at the painfully obvious nerves and offered up, “Kidding. I really believe that’s just not gonna happen, because there IS no wrong choice. It’s totally a judgment call. YOUR judgment. Just do what feels right for you and it’ll all work out.”

A few more hands raised again when it went quiet and Danny asked, “How much can we tell ‘em?”

“What d’ya mean?” Brian asked, cocking his head with a slight frown at his boyfriend.

“Well, like… Joseph didn’t really say anything about… ya know… the freaky stuff that goes on here, or… like… all the sex or gay stuff or nudity and things. Are we… even allowed to tell them?” Danny asked, looking thoughtful.

The Year 12s looked at each other curiously, silently debating the question. Eventually it was Joseph who stepped forward to say, “It’s not like it’s forbidden, but… think about their perception of it!” He paused a moment to let the younger boys think. “I mean… they’re SO young and already facing the thought of being away from their families for months at a time. I don’t know about you, but I found a pretty fucking terrifying idea at their age!”

There were murmurs and nods of agreement from the younger boys and a few from their mentors too.

“To put it simply,” Joseph nodded, “We don’t wanna scare ‘em off, because all these boys have potential greatness that Kingswood can really help them achieve!”

Danny looked round at the others from his dorm and sighed slightly but forced a smile and nodded at Joseph.

Joseph thought for a moment then offered up, “Danny, if I’d told you on your interview day that misbehaviour would result in public nudity, or that you’d be locked in a chastity device for not being, like… sexually developed yet, would you have still come here?”

“Fuck no!” Danny exclaimed, getting some sniggers for how emphatic and instant his response was.

Joseph grinned, nodded again and said, “Exactly. But now that you ARE here, aren’t you glad you came?”

“Yeah, and boy he certainly came a lot!” Nicky teased.

“Piss off!” Danny grumbled to Nicky, then turned back to his mentor to nod and say, “I am. Very!”

Joseph felt a warm sense of pride at his mentee. He took a moment to enjoy it then looked round the others and said, “So if there’s bits you feel you need to hint at to… to figure out if they’ll fit in with us, then yeah, do it, but… don’t give the whole game away. If nothing else, just imagine their surprise in their first couple of days when they realise what they’re in for!” He gave a wicked grin.

The younger boys started chattering amongst themselves for a few moments.

“You really think they’re ready?” Joseph whispered to the other mentors.

“Yeah!” Andy insisted with a nod as they perused the younger group. All of the boys had experienced ups and downs over their time at Kingswood, substantially more than the other dorms in their Year, but they had all come out of it stronger and more mature. Proudly he said to the others, “We did a good job. Now it’s their turn!”