#guy shepherd

1) Gary had a private journal where he wrote poetry and song lyrics. It was very special to him. Gary and his friends often doodled or wrote on each other’s worksheets during class, and Gary saved his favorites in a sleeve on the inside of the journal’s cover. When the sleeve was full, Gary slid the papers between the pages like bookmarks.

2) Gary tried to look out for Peter, mainly by hanging around when Peter was scheduled to be in the same classes/places as Shane.

3) Gary and Andy hung out at Andy's house all the time. They knew each other before secondary, so Gary was a familiar part of the Knightley household.

4) On many school days, Gary would come home with Andy and spend a while there before going to his own house. If Gary had missed sleep, Andy would let him sleep in his bed while Andy himself did homework.

5) After the events of the movie, Gary is a father figure to his blank squad (whom I have dubbed the blank musketeers). I like the idea that he understands their feeling of being lost. Gary tries his best to give them the guidance and comfort he wishes he'd had growing up.

6) Gary encourages the blank musketeers as they form their own identities. Eventually, he doesn't even slightly think of them as copies of his friends, because he's gotten to know the blanks for who they've become.

7) Gary LOVED Mr. Shepherd's class. Partly because all of the boys had it at the same time, partly because Mr. Shepherd taught in a way that Gary enjoyed, and partly for the content itself. Gary became enthralled by the grandeur and sincerity of the texts they read. Some of that is due to Mr. Shepherd putting effort into making the material interesting and engaging for Gary, which most teachers never tried to do.

8) Gary's experience in Mr. Shepherd's class contributed to his occasional use of fancy antiquated words as an adult, despite a lack of general knowledge about literature (The Three Musketeers, King Arthur, etc).

9) Steve and Gary made each other a few mixtapes. Sometimes they’d play them in The Beast while hanging out with the guys, but sometimes they’d listen for the first time at home and talk about it the next day at school.

10) Gary and Andy had a tradition of eating their Halloween candy together. When they got too old for trick-or-treating, they would buy themselves cookies, as well as take the leftovers of what their parents had bought for trick-or-treaters.

11) I believe that Gary had a soft spot for Peter. I mean, really, he calls him the baby of the group! Some of Gary's opening narration implies that he didn't care that much about Pete, but heck, when is Gary honest about his feelings! I think that, over time, young Gary saw glimpses of Pete feeling truly comfortable. He realized that Peter rarely let his personality shine through. So, Gary was really happy whenever he got Peter to let loose and have fun.

12) Young Gary admired Andy a lot. Andy had goals he worked towards (ie rugby and law school) and didn't conceal his emotions as much as Gary did. In Gary's eyes, Andy was just overflowing with ambition and heart. Gary envied that. However, they got along so well that Gary could never dislike Andy. Their humor, values, and personalities matched perfectly, and they had years of happy memories...Gary couldn't help but adore him. So, though Gary called himself the leader, Andy inspired him so much that Gary sometimes felt like he was the one following Andy.

13) Gary has a habit of falling in love with a specific subject--main example being The Sisters of Mercy. However, his first topic ever was Egyptology. It began with picture books when he was a little kid. By the time Gary was in his early teens, Egyptology no longer gripped him like it used to, but he still found joy in anything ancient Egypt-related. He happened upon the ankh and winged goddess necklaces at a store and instantly bought them. Oliver called dibs on getting Gary an Eye of Ra necklace for his birthday, much to the annoyance of Andy, Peter, and Steve.

14) The Golden Mile was also a topic Gary fell in love with. He researched each bar, picking up information about the town in general as he went along. Gary keeps remnants of his favorite subjects, because they always have a special meaning to him, even if he's not especially interested in them anymore. Keeping the map and occasionally testing his memory of the order of the bars was a self-comfort thing for him.

15) One Halloween, Gary and Andy bought a mix for cupcakes and tried to bake them...then royally fucked up. Gary was bad at the math, Andy got frustrated trying to find kitchenware, and they were both distracted by joking around. Laughing at their mistakes only worsened the baking situation. They made up for it by eating all the frosting.