Last night when Charlette told my mom that someone outed me to the whole school, she was tempted to keep me home today while everything calmed down. After already having missed yesterday, I realized it will only get harder with every day I skip. Bradley had to be at school early, so it's just my sister and me this morning.

I get out of the car, but Whittney catches my eye when I spot him walking around to the back of the school. Charlette is already towards the front door before glancing at me.

"Aren't you coming?"

"No." I shake my head, huffing as I throw my bag over my shoulder. "I need to take care of something."

Sometimes Whittney would smoke with his friends in this secluded part at the back of the school before class. That's where I find him, already lighting up a joint. I hear him laughing, but there's no spark behind it like usual. In fact, it sounds lifeless. Staged.

"Whittney!" My feet feel heavy as I approach him, but I don't slow my pace.

"Shit. Hold this." Whittney passes the joint to one of his friends. He turns to me, his eyes completely bloodshot. It isn't just from the weed, but from the looks of it, lost sleep over a number of days. On top of that, he's shaking. He's definitely on something.

"The whole school?" My rage fuels my voice. "Are you fucking serious?"

He looks surprised by my outburst but laughs it off. "Yeah, so what?"

"Asshole," I growl, my fists clenched. "How would you feel if I-?"

Whitney takes an aggressive step towards me. "If you what?"

I open my mouth to say something but stay quiet.

"Yeah, you better keep your fucking mouth shut, or I'll let it slip about your little boyfriend, too." A malicious smirk plays on his lips like a sick joke. He's trying so hard to mask his emotions, but I can see right through his facade.

He's jealous.

I grab him tightly by his arms and slam his back into the brick wall. The last time we were so close, Whittney hit me pretty hard. Somehow, I still feel it, even though the bruise has faded. A moment passes, and I can see Whittney's gaze goes from my eyes to my lips before he shoves me away.

"Get off me, faggot!" His voice shakes with anger, but his eyes start to water a little.

"Whittney, come on. You don't have to call him that." Dreadlock girl pulls on his arm before offering him the joint again. "Chill, a'ight?"

He brushes her off, but does grab the joint and turns away from me, going back to his friends as if I was never there.

I take a deep breath as I enter the cafeteria. Some people are too focused on their own conversations to notice me too much, but a lot of heads turn in my direction while I stand there with my lunch in hand. Charlette is at my side every step of the way as she takes me to a lunch table where Austin and Madison are already eating with a couple of their friends.

My cheeks burn red. I feel like every eye is on me and our table when we sit down. Austin looks longingly at his usual table, making me wonder if he actually meant what he said to me yesterday, or if they were just words he thought I'd want to hear. I look down and chew on my inner cheek. It was probably wishful thinking to assume he'd fully support me when his friends are a couple of tables away.

"Harry, are you okay?" Madison is the first to break the silence, and I look in her direction. "If you ever need anything..."

My lips curve into a small smile. "Thanks, Madison."

The cafeteria goes quiet again when Caroline and Sami, two sophomores, walk in. I almost drop my sandwich when I see them walking hand in hand. When they stop at our table, they stand over me with bright smiles.

"Well don't you two look chipper." Madison grinned at them.

Caroline reaches down with her free hand, ruffling my hair. "This lil' guy started a mini-revolution."

Frown lines scrunch between my brows as I fix my hair. "What are you talking about?"

Sami laughs. "You seriously haven't heard? Since that asshole stoner guy outed you yesterday, a couple of people have already come out in your honor."

"You're kidding." I blink a couple of times, unsure of how to react to something so ridiculous. How I could have influenced even one person to commit social suicide like that is beyond me.

The girls sat down at our table, still beaming creepily at me as if I was some kind of miracle worker. It's almost irritating. As if I only just started to matter because of this whole ordeal.

Someone leaning over my sister catches my attention. I smile when I realize it's Bradley, but then he wraps his arm around my sister's shoulder, kissing her cheek, and all I can think about is how much I want that to be me instead. Charlette and I glanced at each other, but I lift the corners of my mouth slightly, silently telling her that it's okay. It was my idea, after all.

When I look over at Austin, his full concentration is at his usual table. It isn't until laughter erupts over there that I realize why. Austin shakes his head in that direction, but then I hear Rodney yelling my name.

He obscenely pushes a banana deep inside his mouth as he looks at me. When he pretends to choke on it a little, it causes an eruption of laughter from his friends. "Am I making you horny?"

I shrink down into my chair, my cheeks heating up. Their laughter echoes in my head and I feel like I'm about to bolt out of there, but then Bradley stands up and marches over to his cousin's table. Rodney stands up to greet him, slightly stepping away from his table. They are standing toe-to-toe, Bradley with clenched fists and Rodney with a challenging look in his eyes.

"Leave him the fuck alone." An anger vibrates in Bradley's voice that I've never heard before.

Rodney answers him with a chuckle and nods in the direction of Charlotte and I. "What, you his little protector now? Scoring some points with his whore of a sister?"

Bradley's fists have gone white. "Stop being a dick!"

Right when those words leave his mouth, Rodney retaliates with a strategic punch to his cousin's face. Bradley stumbles back and falls to the floor but gets up just in time to catch Rodney off guard with a punch to the stomach. He reacts quickly, though, with a tight grip on Bradley's arm. He twists, but Bradley turns it around on him so that it's Rodney whose arm ends up twisted behind his back.

If not for Bradley being the captain of the wrestling team, Rodney's muscle mass would have been enough to overpower the scrawnier cousin. Luckily, my guy has got it handled. He's got the fighting skills instead of brute strength.

"You're going to leave him alone, alright?" Bradley warns, his grip causing Rodney to grimace.

Cole and Jameson Loyd step in finally, prying the two away from each other. They both are going for each other still, getting a couple hits in before they are dragged apart.

When Bradley shakes Jameson's hold, I'm right there at his side. Bradley's eyes are still set on Rodney until I lightly grab his arm. "Hey, it's okay. I'm okay. Are you?"

He slowly nods as he looks up at me. "As long as you are."

The whole room goes silent when the vice principal comes in. He points to the three of us and we are all forced to follow him back to his office. Half an hour later, I'm let off with a warning after the whole situation was brought to the VP's attention. I am then sent out to the hall while the cousins stay behind to atone for the disruption.

Austin is there to meet me and I frown. "You didn't have to wait for me."

"Rodney is my friend." He's off to a god-awful start. "But, I don't want what happened between me and Whittney to happen with us. Why would Rodney go after you like that in front of everyone? He never goes out of his way to get into trouble like that without a reason."

What is that supposed to mean? Is he saying that I did something to deserve the way Rodney treated me in there? I grind my teeth before rolling my eyes.

"He's had it out for me for a while," I explain with my arms crossed. "Ever since he got this idea in his head that I liked his sister."

"Amber?" Keep up, Austin. "Why would he think that? Especially now that everyone knows you're gay."

"Because it was true."

Austin laughs in disbelief. "You liked her?"

He says it as if it's something so ridiculous, and it's enough to make my face contort in anger. "Yes, Austin. I liked her. Just because you hate her doesn't mean everyone has to. You're just so-"

"I never said I hate her."

A heavy sigh leaves my lips. "At first, I told her we couldn't be together because I didn't want to do that behind Rodney's back, but later, I fessed up. She was the first person I told about having feelings for... a boy."

"So you figured all this out and she was the first to know?" Austin's mouth turns down at the corners as he glares at me.

Usually, I'd take a step back, but this time I stand my ground. I even laugh at how ridiculous he sounds.

"You seriously think I felt safe enough to tell you about it then?" I shake my head and sigh. "The night I came out to you, Amber came over afterward and comforted me. She was the one who was there that night. I gave you your chance to be what I needed, but instead, you broke me."

Austin brushes a hand through his hair, his face contorting in a slight grimace before he exhales. "Listen, I'm sorry. I had no idea you two were so close. I'm also sorry that Bradley had to be the one to stand up for you. Should have definitely been me."

"No." I don't want Austin's apologies or his protection. "Don't apologize. Ever since Bradley's been seeing my sister, we've kind of become friends again."

I feel a smile creep onto my face.

"So, he's been coming over a lot lately?" Austin cocks his head to the side as he awaits my answer.

"Well, actually he-" I wanted to say he hasn't come over yet, but then he walks out the door of the office.

"So I got off with only a few deten—" Bradley frowns when he sees Austin. "What are you doing here?"

Austin ignores the question. "Thanks for standing up for Harry in there. Took a lot of balls to stand up to Rodney like that."

"It was no problem, really." He smiles at me and I try to hide the blush that's probably spread on my cheeks.

"Hey, uh." I turn to Austin. "Can I talk to Bradley alone for a second?"

"Oh." Austin looks almost upset at what I said. "Well, I mean, I gotta get going anyways."

When Austin's gone, I turn to Bradley. "You shouldn't have done that. Stand up for me, I mean."

Bradley frowns. "Why not? He was being awful to you and I couldn't just stand by and let him."

I grab his hand and look both ways down the hall to make sure we are alone before kissing him. It's not a long kiss, just a few seconds, but it's enough to make me smile like an idiot when we part. I give his hand a squeeze.

"But you don't want to be out yet." While I'm more than flattered that Bradley would do something like that for me, it could backfire on him. "But doing stuff like that will definitely getting people talking."

"Let them talk. They're just words. They can't prove anything."

I smile widely. "Do you want to meet my mom?"

At first, I think I might have sprung the question too suddenly, but then Bradley shows off his perfect teeth. "I'd love to meet your mom."

***

Hey, everyone! It's been a while, but I finally was able to get this chapter written, edited, and posted. Really hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did, feel free to hit that star in the corner or even leave a comment letting me know what you think! All of your comments mean the world to me, and I really hope to get this next chapter out fast, but I'll have to see how busy I am.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

TheWriterD