Kingswood Interview Week - Part 7 - Rob (Patreon)

Friday morning, 21 January 2022

“Aww, my little man’s all grown up!” Sam said teasingly as he grabbed onto Rob. “Feels like it was just yesterday you were some chubby little year seven who sucked at… sucking!”

“Geddoff!” Rob grumbled, pushing his mentor away, though he couldn’t help smirking.

“And look at you now!” Sam said, smiling proudly.

Rob shrugged and said, “Yeah, some chubby little year nine who sucks like a pro!”

“Hey, you’re not chubby!” Sam insisted, placing a hand on each of Rob’s hips. “I believe the word is thicc, with two c’s!”

Rob let out a gentle moan as he looked down and said, “Still looks like chubby to me!”

Sam frowned and cocked his head a little as he took a step back. “Does that… really bother you?”

Rob shrugged. He had been more than a little body-conscious when he started at Kingswood and while his frequent nudity around the other rugby players as well as his dormmates had helped reduce it, his appearance was something that still played on his mind. He was never sure what he disliked more, his belly or his glasses. “Only a bit,” he said quietly.

“Dude, I wasn’t kidding, you’re thicc and it’s a damn good look on you. You’re really growing into it!” Sam insisted. “And I know I’m not the only one who thinks so!”

Rob blushed a little and said, “Yeah, Luke definitely seems to like it!”

Sam smirked. “Sure, Luke too!” he said teasingly.

“Who did you mean then?” Rob asked curiously. As he saw Sam continue to grin, he rolled his eyes and said, “Ugh, let it go!”

“Come on, I’ve seen the way Jazz looks at you. It’s… well… it’s pretty much the same way you look at him!” Sam explained, referring to the new boy in the dorm next door to Rob’s.

Rob huffed and shook his head. “I TOLD you this, MORE than once… me and Luke are exclusive now. Jazz is great but… we missed our shot and we’re moving on!” he explained.

“Hmm, if you say so,” Sam replied, unconvinced. “Wait, so does that mean no hanky panky for you and your new boy?”

“Hanky… panky?” Rob asked, shaking his head. When he got an amused shrug from Sam, he shook his head again and said, “Nah, we’re sticking to the usual rules!” Relationships could be a lot more flexible at Kingswood than they were in other places, with throuples, quads, open relationships and more as common, or possibly even moreso, than ‘traditional’ monogamy. One thing that remained consistent through most of them was a provision for mentoring duties.

The role of the mentor required many duties, but one of the most prominent was to be an open, honest and hands-on educator in sexual matters. Some boys never ventured into direct sexual contact with their mentors, keeping the education purely theoretical, but for most boys their mentor was their first regular sexual partner, allowing them to explore things in a safe environment.

“Ah, so you’re looking for a cute one you can play with whenever you need a break from Luke, right?” Sam teased.

“No!” Rob insisted firmly. “Believe it or not, I actually want to be a good mentor, not just… find someone to have sex with!”

“Hey chill, I’m just kidding,” Sam insisted. “I know you’re serious about this, I was just trying to lighten the mood. I just don’t want you to put too much pressure on yourself, that’s all. Try to relax and have fun!”

*****

Gregory

“Oh my god, NO!” the boy shrieked as he recoiled in horror from Rob.

Rob just stared, unsure what to do. Gregory, or Greg as he preferred, seemed like a good kid and a good potential fit for Kingswood based on their initial conversations. He was interested in joining the rugby team, liked a lot of subjects and generally just seemed like a fun potential addition to Year 7. Then Rob had started to test the ‘other’ criteria – the penchant for penile proclivities.

Rob didn’t even know how it had happened. He had been trying to ease into the subject subtly, but the boy seemed utterly oblivious. Rob had somehow ended up blurting out, “Do you want to see my penis?” The boy’s reaction had been less than favourable. I refer you to the earlier, ‘Oh my god, no!’

“You’re… you’re… one of those perverts, aren’t you!” Greg said, panicking as be backed away. “My mum’s always warning me about people like you. You probably want to kidnap me and make me do… things!”

“N… no… I… I just…” Rob stuttered, clueless about how to recover. He could already see where this would go. The boy would run back and tell his parents. The parents would report him to the school, who would expel him. Maybe they’d even involve the police and he’d be arrested. Everything felt like it was just collapsing around him.

“Get away from me!” Greg insisted.

Rob sat trembling as he mumbled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“Shut up, just… just leave me alone!” Greg shrieked at him.

“I’ll get someone to take my place!” Rob insisted as he dashed for the door. As soon as he was in the hallway, he typed out [HELP!] and sent it to Sam.

Barely thirty seconds later, Rob’s mentor was hurrying along the corridor towards him. “What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked urgently.

Rob was almost in tears as he blurted out, “I offered to get my dick out and he freaked out because of course he did, who wouldn’t!? And now he’s scared and he hates me and he’s going to report me and I’m going to prison!”

“Okay, okay, just breathe, Rob,” Sam urged the younger boy. “Just… breathe, okay. Try to calm down. I’ll take care of this!”

Rob stood panting, trying to catch his breath as he nodded at Sam, who quickly disappeared into the suite where he had left Greg. He briefly considered pressing his ear to the door to try and hear what was going on, but part of him just didn’t want to know. He focused on calming himself down, slowly getting his breathing under control.

The minutes ticked by and he heard nothing from inside until finally the door opened and Sam walked out, followed a moment later by Greg. The boy gave Rob a quick glance, his expression fairly neutral.

“Rob’s really sorry about his really shit attempt at being funny,” Sam insisted to Greg, then looked to Rob and asked, “Aren’t you, Rob?”

Rob frowned for a moment then suddenly nodded and said, “Yes, SO sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you!”

“Well… okay then,” Greg said, not looking entirely convinced but no longer seeming terrified.

Sam led Greg away and Rob remained where he was until he saw Greg and his parents leaving several minutes later.

“Off to a good start,” Sam said sarcastically as he walked back to retrieve Rob.

“That was… horrible!” Rob said, moving forward to lean against his mentor, feeling arms wrap around him. He let out a gentle whimper. “Do I really have to do that three more times?”

“I don’t know what THAT was,” Sam said, nodding to the door to the suite, “But no, don’t do THAT any more times! Maybe… don’t scare the crap outta the next one, okay!” As he heard another moan from Rob, he pulled back and said, “Hey, I had a REALLY bad one too, but… I got through it and then found you. You’ve got this, okay!”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Rob pouted.

*****

Vincent

Rob had approached his second candidate of the day with even more caution than he had started the first. All he kept hearing was Greg screaming, “NO!” at him and it was making him question himself even before the boy emerged from the interview room.

“This is Vinnie,” Mr Everett introduced the boy. “Vinnie, this is Rob. He’ll look after you while I talk with your parents.”

Vinnie sniffed and nodded without speaking.

The Headmaster looked to Rob and gave a slight frown before nodding to Vinnie. At first Rob thought the man was saying something along the lines of ‘Don’t scare this one’ but as he looked at the boy’s face and saw the red, puffy eyes it became apparent it was amore a warning about his emotional state.

“Hi Vinnie,” Rob said softly as the door closed. “How’s it going?”

Vinnie jumped onto one of the seats, pulled his knees up to his chest with his arms around them and burst into tears as he buried his face in his arms.

Rob felt sick. How was this happening? He had spent all week hearing about the mostly-good interviews his dormmates had experienced, with the occasional slight unpleasantness, but none of them sounded anything like this. Rob stared in dismay for a moment before moving to the seat beside the crying boy. “Hey, it’s okay…” he started as he placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” Vinnie snapped, looking up for just a moment, his cheeks streaked with tears.

Rob recoiled. His friends at school were so tactile that he hadn’t even thought twice about touching him and now all he seemed to have done was made it worse as the boy returned to sobbing helplessly.

“Sorry,” Rob apologised. “If you want to talk about it, I’ll be right here,” he added, sitting upright, determined to wait the boy out.

Several minutes passed and Vinnie continued to cry, but gradually began to calm. As the tears stopped, he wiped one cheek with his left cuff then the other with the right as he lifted his head a little. He gave Rob brief side-eye but didn’t say anything.

Rob continued to just sit silently, not wanting to antagonise the boy anymore.

Vinnie repeated his brief glance a few times before he finally spoke. “I haven’t been bad!” he said meekly.

“Who said you have?” Rob asked curiously.

Vinnie shrugged but didn’t answer.

Rob continued to wait him out.

“They wanna send me away to school. They must think I’ve been bad!” Vinnie said with a sigh, staring at the door to the interview room.

Rob almost outright disagreed immediately, but held back, not wanting to lie to the boy. Instead, he opted for honesty. “I don’t know your parents and I don’t know why they chose to apply to Kingswood,” he started, pausing a moment to make sure he hadn’t immediately triggered the boy again. Seeing it was safe, he continued, “But it might not be why you think! Even if it is… Kingswood isn’t a punishment. I really enjoy it there!”

“Yeah, they probably make you say that,” Vinnie pouted.

Rob chuckled, but quickly stopped it as he got a scowl from the boy. “They really don’t!” he insisted. “I HATED the idea of going to Kingswood at first and leaving my parents and my little bro and my mates behind and… yeah, I guess that bit sucks, but seriously, Kingswood’s great!”

Vinnie stared for a few moments, seemingly deliberating whether or not Rob could be trusted. Finally he just grumbled, “Yeah, well… good for you. I don’t wanna go and that’s that. Now leave me alone!”

Had he not just experienced the horror of Greg, he might have been inclined to try to continue convincing the boy of the school’s merits but, weary about ending up on the wrong side of another candidate, he just sighed and moved back to his original seat. They were still sitting in silence by the time Mr Everett and Vinnie’s parents left the interview room.

*****

Christian

[TODAY SUCKS!!!!!!] Rob typed out and hit send angrily as he sat waiting for candidate three to appear.

[Going well then? Lol] Danny replied.

[I thought the first one was gonna have me arrested and the second one was a cryer!!!!!!! :( ] Rob sent back.

[Fingers crossed for number 3 then!!!11!!1!one!] Danny sent back.

[Not funny] Rob replied, deliberately leaving off the exclamation marks, then send a second message saying, [Shouldnt u be paying attention to The Bomb!] Having found out their German teacher (who happened to be French), Mr Francois Bombelles, had been given the nickname ‘The Bomb’ during his previous career as a tennis player the boys took great pleasure in using it wherever possible.

[SO dull. May die. Avenge my death!] Danny joked.

[Meh, you kinda deserve it!] Rob sent back, followed moment later by, [Gotta go! Sounds like they’re coming out!]

[Good luck. This’ll be a good one!] Danny insisted optimistically.

Rob smiled as he put the phone away then sat trying to look as non-threatening as possible as the Headmaster emerged with the next boy.

“Rob will keep you company for now,” Mr Everett said to the boy with a smile. “Rob, this is Christian!”

“Hi,” Rob smiled. “Grab a seat.”

“Thank you,” the boy said politely as he sat down.

“Did your interview go well?” Rob asked, still cautiously optimistic this one could be good.

“It did and I was on my BEST behaviour,” Christian said proudly.

Rob chuckled and nodded. No tears, no terror… definitely potential. Or not disastrous, which was probably as good as today was going to get!

“Mummy says if I’m a good boy one day I’ll get to go to heaven and that starts with being a good boy at school, so I will always do my best!” Christian explained, matter-of-factly.

Rob let out a sigh, holding it back from sounding too frustrated. “That’s… good to know,” he said, not writing the boy off quite yet. “Does… mummy say anything about… gay people?” he asked, just wanting to get it out of the way.

Christian gasped in shock, his eyes widening as he stared at Rob. “They’re going to burn in hell. That’s what mummy says. She said I should stay away from them otherwise I might end up in hell as well. Are there gay people at Kingswood?” he demanded.

Rob felt himself tense up. He felt like he should correct the boy, though that seemed like another pointless argument ready to ruin his morning. He sighed again and said, “No. No gay people at Kingswood. Anyway, we should probably stop talking and sit here like good boys until it’s time for you to leave. Don’t want to stop you getting into heaven now, do we!”

“Agreed!” Christian nodded, missing the heavy sarcasm.

Rob pulled his phone out and just sent Danny, [FML].

*****

Devon

Rob had heard from Danny that there were ‘other options’ if none of his four candidates were a suitable match. He had gone into the day convinced that would never be necessary, but it was beginning to look increasingly likely. When he was introduced to Devon, he had all but made up his mind that he would end up back for a second day of interviews and having to go through the misery all over again.

Devon’s attitude was apparent from the moment the boy opened his mouth. “What you supposed to be then? Some lame… jock… who’s meant to make sure I don’t steal stuff or start a fire or anything!” he said with a scowl as he stared at Rob.

“Me? A jock?” Rob sniggered. “I mean… I’m on the rugby team… the captain actually, but… I wouldn’t call myself a jock. More like a nerd!” He pointed to his glasses.

“Putting glasses on a rugby lad doesn’t make him a nerd!” Devon snapped.

Rob smirked. If this was going to go as badly as the others, he may as well at least try to have some fun. “No, but my grades do. Believe me, I’m pure nerd!” he humble-bragged.

“Oh!” Devon exclaimed in surprise. “So… I’m guessing you do the rugby thing to stop everyone bullying you for being so nerdy then!”

Rob frowned, a little bewildered. “No, I… play rugby cos I love rugby. And nobody gets bullied for being a nerd at Kingswood!” He thought for a moment as Devon stared back and said, “Sure there’s a bit of teasing now and then, but usually all in good fun!”

Devon continued to stare for a moment, clearly sizing Rob up. Finally a hint of a smile curled the corner of his mouth as he said, “So you’re ACTUALLY a nerdy jock. That’s kinda hot!”

Rob grinned and said, “Oh, thanks!”

Devon’s face screwed up into a frown. “That’s it? Thanks?” he asked, mildly offended.

Rob shrugged a little as he asked, “What was I meant to say?”

“W.. well… I… I call you hot and… and you’re a guy… and so am I so… you… well…” Devon stuttered, seeming genuinely taken aback. He took a deep breath to compose himself and said, “Most people are, like… ‘you’re too young to be thinking people are hot’, or ‘you’re a boy, you should be saying that stuff to girls, not other boys!’ Stuff like that!”

Rob nodded thoughtfully for a moment then cocked his head and asked, “Well… do YOU think you’re too young, or supposed to be saying it to girls?”

“No!” Devon snapped sharply.

“Then why would I?” Rob asked with a casual shrug, raising an eyebrow.

“I… I…” Devin stuttered again, lost for what to say.

“If you think me, or anyone at Kingswood would be homophobic, you couldn’t BE more wrong!” Rob explained proudly.

Devon hummed for a moment and said, “Yeah, I saw the ‘LGBT-friendly’ stuff on your website but I figured that was just there to stop people complaining! They all say it but none of them actually do it!”

“Oh, we definitely do it!” Rob said assertively. “Most of us are somewhere in amongst all those LGBT letters. The few of us who aren’t really have no problem with it,” he explained.

“Wait, so… nobody’s bullying nerds and nobody’s beating up the gays?” Devon asked, sounding genuinely shocked. “You sure this place is even real?”

Rob chuckled. For a conversation that had started out so aggressively, the boy was really starting to grow on him. “Yeah, pretty sure,” he nodded with an amused chuckle.

“Oh!” Devon suddenly exclaimed, nodding with realisation. “It’s white, isn’t it!” he said coldly.

“What is?” Rob asked with a confused head shake.

“Kingswood!” Devon said accusingly. “It’s okay to be nerdy or sporty or gay or… or trans or whatever… so long as you’re white. Right?”

“Hmm!” Rob hummed, sitting back in his seat as he thought about it. “That’s actually a good point!” he said, nodding contemplatively. “I mean, I’m not saying anyone’s racist or shit like that, cos… well… fuck racists… and not in the fun way,” he paused to smirk but got nothing back, “But it’s something we’ve talked about in my dorm sometimes.”

“Oh?” Devon asked, still looking a little confrontational, but eagerly listening.

“Yeah, like… in our Year there’s thirty-two of us, and thirty of us are white! It never really seemed… right!” Rob explained, noting the genuinely interested look on Devon’s face. “I think it’s changing a bit… slowly. Like… year eight has… lemme think a sec.” He stopped, trying to recall the current Year 8 class as he worked his way through them. “There’s that guy Nicky’s friends with… Angel, yeah, he’s black, then there’s Bo and Kam, I know them from rugby and there’s… oh, what is it again… Danny talks about him sometimes, he’s the year eight rugby captain… erm… Haru! That’s it!”

“Oh wow, a whole four!” Devon said sarcastically.

“Yeah, but like I said… it’s getting there,” Rob explained slightly defensively. “I don’t really know many of the year sevens, but… I think they’re getting on for, like… more than a third of them being…” he paused and looked at Devon as he asked, “What’s the term you prefer? At school they say BAME but I know different people like different things.”

“Wait, you… they actually… TALK about stuff like this?” Devon asked in genuine surprise.

“Mmm-huh,” Rob nodded, pleased to have surprised the boy. “It’s something that comes up in Citizenship class. Sometimes we just, like… talk about this sorta stuff when we’re hanging out in our dorm too. There’s lessons we have on diversity and equality. It’s… well, it can seem like a lot, but it seems like the more we learn about it, the more important I realise it is!”

“Wow!” Devon said, the frustration on his face melting away as he thought about it.

“I’m guessing… you’ve had issues before then?” Rob asked cautiously. “With all of it!”

“Ha!” Devon laughed, shaking his head.

Rob winced at the boy’s expression. He was so young, but there was such obvious pain plastered across his face, more than anyone should bear, especially someone his age.

Devon scowled for a moment then explained, “I got outed for having a crush on a boy when I was NINE and I’ve got a black mum and a Chinese dad, I may as well have ‘target’ tattooed on my forehead!”

Rob felt a knot in his stomach. Hearing anyone talk about something like that would be tough, but he had to remind himself this boy was barely eleven years old. When Rob was eleven, he barely even knew about terms like LGBT or had any concept of discrimination or racism or prejudice or any of the awful things the world seemed to have ready to throw at them, but here was Devon, talking about it like someone twice his age.

Devon shrugged. “Well Kingswood sounds good… in theory, but I s’pose it can’t be worse than anywhere else!” he said dejectedly.

Rob pursed his lips as he contemplated how to respond. “I can’t tell you how to feel,” he said with a sad smile as he looked at the younger boy, “But I CAN tell you I genuinely think Kingswood could be a really good place for you. For anyone really, but… definitely for you!”

“Yeah,” Devon sighed. “But they ain’t gonna choose the blasian kid!”

“Blasian?” Rob frowned, then nodded and pointed knowingly at Devon as he said, “Oh… black and Asian, right?”

Devon nodded with a wry smile.

Rob knew he was forbidden from revealing his role in the selection process, but he briefly considered breaking it, just to put Devon at ease. Aside from wanting to respect the rules, he hated the idea of telling the boy he would get in and then having something happen to change it. Instead he just smiled and said, “I think you’ll be fine!”

Devon just sighed, looking unconvinced.

*****

“You take care now,” Mr Everett said as he waved off Devon’s family. He placed a hand on Rob’s back to guide him back to the seats in the waiting area. “Hmm, do I get the impression the last one went better than the others?”

“It couldn’t have been much worse, sir,” Rob said, pouting slightly. He gave a slight smile as he added, “But yeah, I guess it did!”

“Glad to hear it,” the Headmaster said cheerfully. “So you enjoyed it a little more?”

Rob frowned thoughtfully and said, “I don’t think that’s the right word, sir. None of today has really been what I expected, but,” he glanced backwards at the hallway for a moment and said, “Devon was REALLY not what I expected.”

“He’s an interesting young man, for sure,” Mr Everett said, nodding slightly. “Well I’m glad it ended on a slightly better note for you. I always want my students to have a positive experience.”

“Yeah, and it was, thank you, sir!” Rob said politely, then pursed his lips for a moment before he said cautiously, “I’m a bit worried about Josh, sir!” As Mr Everett raised his eyebrows, Rob smirked a little and said, “Yeah, I know, what’s new! Worrying about Josh may be one of my GCSE subjects!” The comment got a grin from the Headmaster before Rob went on, “It’s just… all the stuff with his old brothers, he…” Rob sighed heavily, “He still carries it with him and with this mentor thing being kinda like a big brother he’s… really freaking out about it all.”

“I’m aware,” Mr Everett said, nodding gently. “Thank you for speaking up, it always makes me happy to see how much you boys really care about each other, but don’t worry, we know Josh has his concerns and… issues, and… we’re dealing with it!”

“Thank you, sir!” Rob said, relieved to have some assurance his best friend would be looked after that afternoon.

“Anyway, I believe you have lunch plans you need to get to,” Mr Everett said with a smile as he noticed movement in the hallway.

“I do?” Rob asked curiously. As Mr Everett gestured behind him, Rob turned and let out a gasp of pure delight. “MILO!” he yelled running over to grab his little brother in a hug.

“Choking!” the younger boy gasped as his brother squeezed his tightly.

“Sorry!” Rob giggled, then let go as he saw his parents, grabbing each of them in an excitable hug. “What are you all doing here?” he asked once he was over the initial shock.

“Rob, this place is a fifteen-minute drive from home. You really think we’d let you come up here and NOT come take the chance to catch up over lunch?” Mr Wilson said, mussing his son’s hair.

“I hadn’t thought of that!” Rob said, feeling a little bad for the oversight. “Wow, look at you looking all smart!” he giggled as he looked back at the excitable boy beside him dressed in a smart shirt and tie.

“Well, this place is pretty fancy!” Milo grinned.

“Come on, let’s go for lunch!” Mrs Wilson said. “The others are gonna meet us shortly!”

“Others?” Rob frowned curiously.

“Yeah, we invited Josh along. And your mentors too!” Mrs Wilson explained. “You’re welcome to join us too, Mr Everett!” she called out to the Headmaster who was standing back, smiling at the sweet reunion.

“Thank you, but no. Paperwork is a cruel and demanding mistress!” the Headmaster said with a smile. “Have a lovely time!” he bid them before he returned to the interview room.

“He seems nice,” Milo said happily as they started off towards the restaurant.

A few minutes later, they had met up with the others – Sam, Josh and Josh’s mentor Richard. While the others were busy discussing what to order, Josh leaned close to Rob and asked, “How’d it go?”

Rob went to answer but held back. Knowing how scared his best friend was already, he had deliberately avoided messaging him when he needed someone to talk to during the morning. He felt bad lying to Josh, but it felt necessary as he smiled and said, “Really well. They were all lovely. Gonna struggle to pick just one!”

Josh let out an audible sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna be fine,” Rob reassured him.

“I hope so,” Josh sighed.

“Whoever you pick’ll be lucky to have you!” Rob said, giving Josh a playful nudge. ‘We know and we’re dealing with it!’ That was what Mr Everett had said. Now Rob just had to hope it was true.