Falsetto
It wasn't his fault he was a soprano. Gary joined the choir because he liked to sing, unlike the other boys, who thought they might be able to pick up some "chicks." Before, in Catholic School, they had praised his voice, told him it was beautiful. So when he transferred to public school, he assumed that he would have one good place to fit in.
But the choir almost didn't take him. They had never heard of a male soprano after age thirteen or so. The guys snickered behind his back, and asked him if he had hit puberty yet. The girls just laughed, nervous that he might take away their solos. There was no denying his talent, he was one of the best sopranos the school had ever seen, but they had also never seen a soprano with a Y-chromosome.
So the assumption was that he was gay. Since Gary had never thought of his sexual orientation, he didn't really care what they had to say about him. The girls hung around him more since they assumed he wasn't after that elusive "one thing." The guys either accepted him, assuming he wasn't competition, or ignored him completely. So Gary became the school's first homosexual. Then, for some reason no psychologist has been able to explain, he became the big man on campus. Every girl wanted him, wanted to be the one to "turn him." Perhaps it's the famous adage, "You want what you can't have" or perhaps he was just that attractive. Either way, he always had lunch companions as the girls competed to see who could come up with a weightier problem to ask him for advice on.
The jocks adopted him, deciding that since their girlfriends were talking to him, he might be a good resource. They all decided that he was the perfect confidant since they didn't have to use false bragging to one up with him, he wasn't "on their team." Gary was the key to survival for several of the more popular couples, including the head cheerleader, Joanne and her boyfriend Dale.
So when time came for prom, Gary was not wanting for dates. Roughly a dozen girls asked him, and a dozen more were too scared. Rebecca, Joanne's stepsister, was one of the frightened ones. Joanne had long before noticed Rebecca looking at Gary. She knew that he was the first to notice Rebecca existed beside Joanne, the first to recognize her under her own identity. She had tried three years to outgrow her sister's shadow, but instead of being a cheerleader, she played basketball. This did not bode well for her popularity. After meeting her only once, Gary had remembered her name, and she quickly found him to be much more considerate than anyone else in the school. Joanne was the only one to notice as the two became closer. They ate lunch together, and rarely went places without each other in the group, but they never did anything with just the two of them involved.
The rest of the school assumed that Gary had taken her on out of pity. They had long since noticed his tendency to be sure he was polite to everyone. They all saw her as a puppy, following him wherever he went. When Joanne encouraged her to ask him to Prom, Rebecca confessed that she believed all of the rumors.
So when the word got out that Gary finally had a date to Prom, the rest of the school wasn't very shocked to discover it was Rebecca. They made their own assumptions. The guys all assumed that he was trying to get the girls to leave him alone, and had just asked his closest female friend. The girl's assumed that she had bribed him, or perhaps worked some kind of spell. They couldn't believe he would choose her. One of the more popular rumors involved the school administration telling him that if he went to prom, he must take someone of the opposite sex, so he was taking Rebecca because he couldn't bring his boyfriend.
That night, everyone was keeping an eye out for Gary and Rebecca, wondering if he had treated her to a limo and corsage, even though they were "just friends." The crowd was not disappointed when they arrived in a rented limousine, she with a small rosebud attached firmly to her dress. He led her in by the arm, a perfect gentleman. They stopped to say hello to a few friends before he politely motioned to the dance floor. Everyone who attended agreed that they were so cute together. "It's a shame that he's gay," was whispered across the room as he led Rebecca to the middle of the floor.
When he pulled her close, they all smiled, thinking how sweet it was that he was trying to make sure her prom was memorable. When he kissed her, they all gasped, not believing their eyes. Everyone except Joanne, who knew that Gary had come to her asking if there was any chance that Rebecca might believe it if he told her the truth. She smiled recalling the day he came to her, so nervous that all these years that he hadn't cared might backfire. No one believed her when she told them that he had asked her, just like Rebecca hadn't believed at first.
Odd that it was that particular kiss that scandalized the school more than anything else did. Gary couldn't understand it, but he didn't care very much. It wasn't his fault he was a soprano.
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