When worlds collide (Desmond)

[Zeke Nayakan]

Zeke had recently received word from the St. James GSA that things weren't going so well for them. Something about a girl, an Alliance of Christian Students, and a plan to get rid of the GSA for good. Which was not good at all. After speaking over the phone with Desmond, the President of the St. James Gay-Straight Alliance, Zeke had agreed to meet him somewhere so that they could talk about collaborating on some sort of plan, or at least to talk about the clubs in general. The obvious choice of meeting place had been the Liberty Diner, since it was always safe with Debbie around and the environment was easy-going.

Zeke had arrived first, and wondered what they would end up talking about. He didn’t know many people from St. James, though the few friends he did have had gotten him in contact with Desmond. He was sure that they were good people, for the most part. He couldn’t imagine how far these Christians would go to end such a peace- and tolerant-seeking group…

Getting a booth and telling the waitress that he was waiting for someone else, Zeke waited.

((ooc- meh. Lame, but I wanted to post something…))

[Desmond Giuseppe]

Desmond knew that his GSA was a little on the small side compared to other clubs at his school so he knew he was going to need help he wanted to beat Prudence. The GW GSA seemed like an obvious place to ask for help. He had gotten in contact with Zeke, GW GSA Prez, in part through his cousin Ravi, who went to GW and was in GSA there. They had agreed to meet in the Liberty Diner because it seemed like the most logical place for two gay guys discussing gay matters to meet up. Also it was a safe place from Prudence and her many spies. Desmond was sure she wouldn't stoop so low as to set foot on Liberty Avenue; her and her little clan probably thought they go straight to hell if they did.

When Desmond arrived at the Diner he spotted Zeke right away because he was the only Asian guy in the place. Audrey was right; he was quite the hottie. Desmond had to remind himself that, even though they were on shaky ground, he had a boyfriend. Zeke was probably able to spot Desmond just as easily seeing as he was the only mega Emo kid in the place.

"Hi." said Desmond going over to Zeke with a friendly smile on his face that was very uncharacteristic for him Emo appearance. Desmond was a jolly Emo boy, he couldn't help it. "I'm Desmond, you must be Zeke." He held out his hand for Zeke to shake, "Thanks for meeting me here!"

[Zeke Nayakan]

Zeke had been keeping one eye on the door without looking too eager. He needed this break, this distraction from everything that was going on in his life, and he couldn’t wait for Desmond to show up so that he could meet someone new. Someone who didn’t know him, or everything that was going on at George Washington. Ravi had described Desmond a little, but not very much. He found out from Tobias, the most recent member of the GSA, that Desmond tried to kill himself... so Zeke didn’t know what to expect.

Spotting a boy come in, around his age, who started to scan the room, he knew that this was Desmond. He was attractive, if you were into that emo look… which Zeke wasn’t positive he really liked, but didn’t really care. He had a boyfriend now anyway… at least, he had a boyfriend.

"Hi. I'm Desmond, you must be Zeke. Thanks for meeting me here!"

Zeke shook Desmond’s outstretched hand, smiling back at his St. James counterpart. “Yeah, nice to meet you,” he said. “It was no problem… when I heard what was going on at St. James it was the least I could do,” Zeke added. “I mean, I can’t imagine not having the GSA!”

[Desmond Giuseppe]

"Oh, God me too." said Desmond as he sat down across from Zeke. "I just hope it doesn't come to that. . . this Prudence bitch is very determined." Desmond realized Zeke didn't know who the fuck Prudence was, "Oh, she's the one who heads the kooky Christians at my school. You, know the bitch I told you about on the phone briefly. I had a friend go undercover to one of her meetings and I must say it's not looking good. . . The biggest problem is that she has a lot of money, her and other kids in the club as well. We really don't have anyone like that in GSA." Of course most of the kids did come from some level of money, but not the extreme amount like Prudence. Desmond didn't want to mention this out loud because he didn't want to seem like a snobbish rich kid that St. James was known all too well known for.

"But, I'm hoping we can get other forms of support, like you guys! We figured a good way of showing gay pride and giving a big fuck you to Prudence is by having a Drag Queen pageant. We trying to make it a big deal so we get a lot of people to come to it and show the people who fund the school how much support we have. We were hoping we could count you guys in and make it a joint event.”

[Zeke Nayakan]

"I just hope it doesn't come to that. . . this Prudence bitch is very determined."

Desmond was speaking as he sat down across from him. Zeke hadn’t really gotten around to socializing with many people lately, and it felt very unfamiliar for him to be sitting in a diner with someone he barely knew, making conversation.

"Oh, she's the one who heads the kooky Christians at my school. You, know the bitch I told you about on the phone briefly. I had a friend go undercover to one of her meetings and I must say it's not looking good. . . The biggest problem is that she has a lot of money, her and other kids in the club as well. We really don't have anyone like that in GSA."

“Oh,” Zeke said, listening to all of the details and absorbing as many of them as possible. “So she’s had meetings to take you guys down?” he asked, just to clarify. He wanted to make sure he had all of his facts straight before he went barging into situations he knew nothing about. “So what you guys need is money, then.”

"But, I'm hoping we can get other forms of support, like you guys! We figured a good way of showing gay pride and giving a big fuck you to Prudence is by having a Drag Queen pageant. We trying to make it a big deal so we get a lot of people to come to it and show the people who fund the school how much support we have. We were hoping we could count you guys in and make it a joint event.”

Zeke had to laugh a little. A Christian school having a Drag Queen Pageant? Heck, any high school having a drag queen pageant… it was quite amusing. He’d never done anything so public before… nothing quite like that.

“Well… wow. I mean, it sounds like a grand idea. And I know that I, as well as the other members of the GW GSA, are more than willing to help… but I’m going to be honest, we’re a modest lot, and I’m not positive I can get everyone to actually participate,” Zeke said, wanting to be completely honest. “But I suppose you can count me in, if you really need more people.” Zeke wondered if he would regret this commitment later, but decided not to dwell on it.

[Desmond Giuseppe]

“So she’s had meetings to take you guys down?”

"Well, she's had one that we know of." said Desmond, "It was basically so she could tell all that were interested how she thinks GSA is an abomination of God and be removed from the school. Shit like that." Desmond didn't want to add how they were also going to personally go after him for not only being gay, but because of his little 'accident'.

“So what you guys need is money, then.”

"Well, I think we're past that, see there's no way we'll ever be able to compete with the type of wealth Prudence has on her side. I'm just saying that she'll have more influence with her money and we're trying to defend ourselves in other ways. Any money we would raise would probably go toward an AIDS charity. Perhaps a bit to help fund each of our clubs, but that's about it." Desmond realized he wasn't explaining things as well as he could, probably because he had other things on his mind like Josh. He wished he'd had Cynthia with him; she was much better at organizing ideas than he was. Not to mention he was sure that if Cynthia had been gay she would have been voted President over Desmond.

“Well… wow. I mean, it sounds like a grand idea. And I know that I, as well as the other members of the GW GSA, are more than willing to help… but I’m going to be honest, we’re a modest lot, and I’m not positive I can get everyone to actually participate,”

"Psh, they just need a pep talk that's all!" said Desmond waving a hand. If he'd convinced Tad and Vinnie to do drag he was almost sure he could convince anyone. "but really, any little bit of help would be great!"

“But I suppose you can count me in, if you really need more people.”

"Awesome!" Desmond was very excited now; since they had the support of GW's GSA he was sure their plan would be a success! "Ok, so now we need to plan the details. We were thinking we could do it at the Gay and Lesbian center. My friend's father is on the board there so it will be easy to get in, unless you have a better suggestion?" He was honestly interested in what Zeke thought of all this, his was now a part of it after all.

[Zeke Nayakan]

"Well, she's had one that we know of. It was basically so she could tell all that were interested how she thinks GSA is an abomination of God and be removed from the school. Shit like that."

Zeke nodded. That was to be expected, though, especially with a GSA at a catholic school like St. James. There was nothing that this girl wouldn’t sink to, at least that was what Zeke gathered from the way Desmond was talking about her. He also noted that every time she was brought up Desmond took to swearing.

“Well, that’s to be expected,” he said, vocalizing his thoughts. “I’m surprised that it’s taken somebody from your school this long to pull something like this. Heck, it was hard enough to find enough support for a GSA at George Washington!” he admitted.

"Well, I think we're past that, see there's no way we'll ever be able to compete with the type of wealth Prudence has on her side. I'm just saying that she'll have more influence with her money and we're trying to defend ourselves in other ways. Any money we would raise would probably go toward an AIDS charity. Perhaps a bit to help fund each of our clubs, but that's about it."

“That makes sense. Giving to charities is also going to make you guys look a lot better if this thing ever becomes a serious threat. Not that it isn’t serious now, but I mean, if it comes down to school board voting or something.”

"Psh, they just need a pep talk that's all! But really, any little bit of help would be great!"

Zeke laughed, thinking especially of their newer members like Toby, who weren’t very comfortable with being gay, let alone with playing drag queen for a night. And then there was Caleb… oh, Caleb. What the hell was he going to do about that? Zeke had to remind himself that he was there to work on Desmond’s problems, not his own.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s all,” he said, though didn’t sound 100% positive.

"Awesome! Ok, so now we need to plan the details. We were thinking we could do it at the Gay and Lesbian center. My friend's father is on the board there so it will be easy to get in, unless you have a better suggestion?"

Zeke thought for a moment. “That sounds fine, except I’m a little afraid that having it there might scare away a few people… you know, the ones that aren’t sure how they feel about the whole ‘gay’ thing, but are still on the fence….” He pointed out, trying to think from the perspective of the people like Prudence and others who wouldn’t step foot onto Liberty Avenue. “Just the same, I’m not sure where else we could have it. Unless one of our schools would consent, though I’m not sure we could pull that off.”

[Debbie Novotny]

Debbie had finished up with her other customer who was getting the chicken noodle soup and damn well liking it. Now she was moving on to the little emo boy and an asian kid, and couldn't help overhearing what they were talking about.

"A drag show?" she said excitedly, a smile lighting up her face. "You kids are doing a drag show? That fucking fantastic! If you need a space to do it, you should try the park. All you need to do is go to the station and get a permit to hold an event."

She grinned at them while chewing on a piece of orginal flavour bubblegum. She loved it when the kids got invovled with the community. Michael could do with taking a leaf out of their book.

"Oh, I can get the PFLAG mom's to help you kids out if you need 'em," she added.

[Zeke Nayakan]

"That's a great suggestion," Zeke said, thinking about it. "Perhaps the park is too public, though. Too open... we want to make sure we can keep things under contol." He hated to think of what horrible things people might do in an open place like the park. It would be convenient, yes, but there were certain risks...

"But we'd really appreciate the help from PFLAG. I mean, I'm sure the St. James GSA would," he added quickly. "Sorry, I don't mean to speak for you guys or anything, Desmond." He had just been thinking out loud and hadn't meant to get carried away.

[Desmond Giuseppe]

"Oh, no, we'd appreciate all the help we can get." said Desmond, nodding in agreement. "And about the park. . yeah, I think Zeke is right; doing this out in the open doesn't seem like the best idea, although I appreciate your input Debbie. I also don't think some of the guys I've convinced to go in Drag want to do it that publicly. And perhaps you're right Zeke; the Gay and Lesbian center might be a bit too in your face gay. I might be able to get the Oprah house through Audrey's dad, he's on the board there."

Desmond was beyond excited that he was finding so many people willing to help, he just hoped it would be enough. He was sure Prudence was going to have something nasty up her sleeve though. They were just going to have to play it as clean as they could if they expected to win back the right for them to have their club.

[Zeke Nayakan]

Zeke nodded in immediate agreement. He knew that they would probably lose half of their participants if it had been somewhere as open as a park. As much fun as this was going to be, and for such a good cause, well, he'd hate to see it fall through for something like that.

"The Opera House?" Zeke repeated, pondering. He hadn't even considered that, mainly because he didn't have any contacts there, but it seemed like it might work. It was big enough, and it was classy. Very classy! "That could work..."

[Desmond Giuseppe]

"Yeah, and it would be easier to sell tickets; people could just go to the ticket window." said Desmond getting more excited by the minute, but keeping calm and posed. "Also it would be assigned seating so getting a good seat would be an incentive to buy tickets early and we wouldn't have to worry about people fighting over seats!"

"Ok, so we have a place, now we need to think of a date, time, how we want to pick a winner; it we want the audience to vote or if we want judges or some combination of the two, how we want to reward the winner, and how we're going to advertise this without sounding intimidatingly gay." Desmond really wished he had brought Cynthia along so she could keep track of all this. Really, if it wasn't for her he would never have anything organized. It was like having his own personal Hermione when she was around.