-Luke-

Ronny knew, even though I hadn't said a word about Troy and I. I was fairly sure I'd kept all my emotions to myself as well. How did he know...? And what did he mean by saying that people were starting to notice? It was frustrating to wait for the class to end so I could talk to him again.

When we were finally free to go, I stood up and walked to Ronny, who was gathering his belongings like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Luke," he said, grinning at me shortly.

"Ron," I squinted my eyes at him.

People around us gave us curious looks, so I had to do something about my expression. It wasn't easy when I wanted to strangle the guy for dropping a bomb like that on me just before the class was about to start, so I'd had to spend the entire period in agonizing anxiety.

Troy would never forgive me if this thing got out. If Ronny was right, and people really were starting to notice, that meant I had to stay away from him. No matter how much I hated Troy's father, I'd hate myself even more if he lost his home because of us. I couldn't let that happen, no matter what. As long as that threat was looming over us, I wouldn't even look at Troy if that's what it took to keep our secret safe.

I waited in anxiousness for Ronny to get up and follow me. We got out of the classroom and started moving to the next one. I slowed down, letting the others walk ahead of us, and once we had no one close enough to hear us, I turned to look at Ronny.

"I swear to God–"

"God?" Ronny laughed, and I couldn't say it sounded friendly. "You can speak His name? Fag," he mouthed the last word.

I stopped walking. He took a couple more steps before he turned to look at me. I snorted, shaking my head. "I'm not surprised," I told him. "With a family like yours..."

"One more word about my family..." Ronny spoke with a warning tone, and I lifted my hands up as a sign of truce.

If it was just me, I wouldn't have stayed so calm, but this was about Troy's life, and I had no idea what Ronny was going to do with the information that we were dating. I had to keep it cool. I could've tried to deny everything, but I knew I already missed that chance.

"I can't believe you're one of them," Ronny spat at me, when I didn't say a word.

"Funny. I was just thinking the same about you," I said in a low voice. "You know I'm friends with Sky and Max. You know Gwen is transgender. You know I hate close minded assholes who defend their hate with their holy book."

"I, as a Christian–"

"I, as an atheist, don't fucking care. And you know that as well," I spoke, interrupting him. "So what the fuck?"

He didn't seem to have anything to say. He just stared at me angrily, clenching his fists. I scoffed again and started walking. "Get your head out of your ass and come up with your own opinions for once."

I didn't stop until I reached the next class. I kept my distance from the other students and leaned against a wall. My heart was racing in my chest. I had no idea what Ronny would do next. He usually wasn't a bad guy, but his family was pretty intolerant against pretty much everyone who was different from them. Foreigners, other religions, skin color...

I sighed, feeling nauseated. I didn't know what to do. I could always deny everything if Ronny didn't keep his mouth shut, but I had no idea if it was enough. The fact that Ronny had warned me about the rumors, and helped me spread a new one about me having a girlfriend, made things weirder, but then again, he could use it to blackmail me.

I took another deep breath, but my anxiousness was getting pretty strong. I had to tell Troy about this. We had to stop hanging out. That thought only made me feel worse, but what else could we do?

I saw Ronny from the corner of my eye, but I didn't look at him. He stayed away from me as well, ignoring my existence. Fuck that guy... When I finally started to feel good about things... Of course, something came along to ruin it for me.

We had football practice after the last class. My stomach was twisting in anxiety by the time I stepped into the locker room. Ronny was only a few steps behind me. I could only wish he would keep his mouth shut. I would never be able to face Troy if he outed us. He would never forgive me. This was all my fault. I had ruined everything.

I was on the verge of having a panic attack when I stopped next to my locker. Ronny's was right behind me. In my state of mind, I started considering breaking his jaw so badly he wouldn't be able to talk in months. Or ever.

"Hey, dude."

I froze all over. Troy walked past me, but I couldn't even say hi. He slowed down, and I knew he turned to look at me, probably with a hurt expression on his face, but I couldn't make myself even turn to look at him.

The way he spoke the word dude... Was it just me or did it sound affectionate? It did. It most certainly did. I loved the way he said it, but he had to stop using it right now. But I couldn't tell him that. The entire team was in that room, so there was no way I could tell him to stop calling me dude without everyone hearing it, and getting suspicious.

All I could do was ignore him. The love of my life. My sunshine.

Oh God, it hurt.

But Ronny was there, right behind me. Troy continued his way to his own locker without saying a word to anyone. It killed me to know he was trying to figure out what was going on, why I was being cold and if he had done something wrong.

I gritted my teeth together and turned to look at Ronny. He was already looking at me and seeing his face nearly drove me to break his jaw after all. I guess he understood that, since he quickly turned to look away.

I changed my clothes in an angry haze. My head wasn't working right since I was burning all my energy to keep myself from going into a full rage. I was not good at being cornered. I couldn't register anything I saw or heard or even felt. I was so close to blacking out, so once I had changed my clothes, I grabbed my helmet and marched out of the lockers.

"My god, princess! You're the worst diva I've ever had to deal with!" Our coach yelled after me, but I didn't stay to listen.

I really needed some fresh air.

-Troy-

"There he goes again..." someone muttered after Luke stormed out of the locker room.

I scoffed and took off my shirt. I saw Max looking at me, but I ignored him.

"He thinks he's so amazing and precious he can do and act however he wants..."

My eyelid twitched. Max was still keeping an eye on me. I finished changing my clothes, trying to keep myself calm and composed. But then...

"I'm not going out as long as that pissy little drama queen is there. I bet he's mad because he's forced to have practice with us..."

"Troy..." Max spoke my name when I turned around to stare at Rick, the guy who called my boyfriend a drama queen. "Troy!" Max tried to grab my arm when I took a few steps closer to little Rick.

"First off, how about you go say that to Luke's face instead of whining back here like a little bitch?" I spoke quite loudly. I was quite mad. "And second, you all know damn well he gets mad only when some fuckwit decides it's a good idea to push his buttons! And yet you bunch of morons use every opportunity to talk trash about him behind his back!"

"It's not our fault if he can't handle having his buttons pushed!" Rick spat at me.

I laughed at his face. "You're saying that because he kicked your ass once. You're one of the fuckwits. Why don't you tell the rest of us what exactly did you do, huh? I bet every single one of you who's talking shit about him has done something to make him angry."

Oh, they all fell silent. I, on the other hand, wasn't anywhere near done. "You know how Rick here pissed off Luke?" I looked around for a moment, before turning my eyes at Rick. "He hit a girl. Cain and his friends bullied everyone who was weaker than them. Got their asses kicked by Luke. Trent stole Nick's phone and was about to flush it down the toilet just for laughs when Luke saw what was going on. Do I need to continue?"

There were a couple of guys who looked at me, silently pleading for me to keep my mouth shut.

"So," I spoke and paused to look around. "Who's the fuckwit this time?"

There was a long pause of silence, but then someone coughed, and I turned to look around to see Ronny.

"That'd be me," he spoke quietly.

"That'd be Ronny," I nodded. "So, fuck you, Rick, and fuck all of you who still think Luke deserves this kind of shit."

With that, I walked out of the dead-silent locker room.

I really needed some fresh air.

Once I was out on the field, I walked straight over to Luke, who was sitting on the bleachers. He kept his head down, and didn't look me in the eye when I stopped next to him.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Ronny knows about us," Luke spoke quietly, still without looking at me.

I felt a nervous jolt going through me. "Oh," was all I could say in a while. It was pretty obvious Ronny wasn't wishing us good luck and happiness. "Talk to me."

Luke sighed and told me everything that happened with Ronny earlier today. I listened to him in silence, trying to ignore the gut-wrenching feeling I suddenly had. When he stopped speaking, the rest of the team was out on the field, but none of them came to us. Even Max stayed away, but I was sure he just wanted to give us some privacy, while the rest of them were afraid of Luke.

I took a deep breath. "So... You want me to stop calling you dude..."

"I..." Luke glanced at me shortly before turning his head down again. "I think we shouldn't hang out at school anymore... If he talks, then it's easier for us to deny it."

"Easier to deny it..." I repeated with a nod. "True."

"So... I guess that's what we'll do," Luke spoke with a defeated voice, but I was already ignoring him.

"Yo, Ronny! Get your ass over here!" I yelled at the top of my lungs and watched the guy hesitating for a moment before he slouched over to us.

"What?" he asked when he stopped in front of us.

"So, you know about our little secret," I said to him. "What were you going to do about it? Blackmail us or something? Because I can guarantee, that's not going to work. That's not how this is going to work." Ronny peered at Luke, but I stepped in front of him. "You're not going to out us, because I won't let you. I'll do it myself if I have to, but I will not let you fuck this up for us. You hear me?"

He just stared at me without even blinking. I glared at him until I got too pissed about his silence and turned to look at Luke. "Come on. Practice is about to start."

Luke stood up, glanced at Ronny, and started following me without saying a word. We didn't get too far before Ronny spoke.

"I won't."

I stopped and turned to look back at him. "Sorry?"

"I'll keep your secret," he said, and came to us, nodding his head towards Luke. "This guy over here has taught me a lot about using my own head. And I don't want to be a fuckwit."

"Good," I said. "I'm glad you're not one of them."

Ronny gave me a timid smile. "Honestly, I wasn't going to out you guys. I just didn't know what to think... It still weirds me out, but... I'm not going to tell anyone about it. I promise."

I knew he really wanted to say 'gross', or even worse, but at least he was man enough to not say it out loud.

"Thanks," I said, but Luke didn't seem so convinced.

*****

"All we can do is hope he's a man of his word," I told Luke later that day, when we were walking to his house.

"But what if he's not? We can't afford him telling someone. If your father finds out–"

"Then I can kiss you in public," I said, nudging him. "It's not the end of the world."

"What if he kicks you out? Or worse? He might hurt you!" Luke spoke, and his voice was heavy with worry.

"I'll figure something out. And I don't think my dad would hurt me. He's not that kind of person," I told him.

"That's not good enough," he said, and we stopped by the gate of his yard. "If anything happens to you..."

"Luke," I said sternly. "I will not stop hanging out with you at school. And I will call you whatever I want." He gave me a pleading look, but didn't speak. I placed my hand on his cheek and smiled. "I'll be fine. Trust me."

He shook his head and sighed lightly. Then he kissed my palm and opened the gate. "I will beat the crap out of him if he so much as thinks about hurting you."

"I know," I said, patting his arm.

Once we were inside his house and Bella calmed down after seeing us – which took a while – we made our way into Luke's room. No one else seemed to be at home. That thought brought a smile to my face.

"What would you like to do?" I asked, sitting down on his couch.

"Video games?" he suggested.

"Or..." I cooed, "We could play a little game of our own."

"Yeah? What's that?"

I smirked and patted the seat next to me. Luke squinted his eyes, but I knew he was amused when he sat down next to me. I swung my leg over his lap and sat down, placing my hands on his shoulders.

"It's a game I like to call 'Who's getting hard first?'" I smiled before kissing him.

Luke laughed against my lips while his hands found their way on my hips. I was just joking, of course. I wasn't trying to make him hard or anything, and I certainly didn't want to have it happen to me, because it was a bit... awkward. I wasn't ready for anything more than kissing, and having that bodily function happen to me was quite weird. I knew it was a good sign that Luke had that effect on me, but still... weird.

But the rest of our little moment wasn't weird at all. Not anymore. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders while his hold on me grew tighter. I really liked being pressed against his chest, having his arms and scent around me.

I didn't want to be without him anymore. The moment he told me we should stop hanging out at school proved that. At that moment, all I could think was hell no. We had a rough start, and we were still in the beginning of our relationship, but I knew now that this was what I wanted. I wanted Luke, and I wasn't going to let Ronny or my dad or anyone else ruin that for me.

Luke let out a small, displeased groan when I parted our lips. I looked him deep into his ice-blue eyes. He had such nice eyes...

"You lost," I whispered.

He groaned again and grimaced. "Sorry..."

I brushed my hands through his hair and pecked his lips. "Did I ever thank you for waiting for me?"

"Waiting for you when?"

"During those four months."

"Oh..."

"Did I?" I asked.

"That's a weird thing to thank me for," he chuckled.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "For waiting for me for all that time."

He just shrugged with a warm smile on his face. "I'd wait for four years just to have a chance with you."

I was lost with words. So I kissed him again, wrapping myself even tighter around him. I wasn't going to let go of him. That much I now knew.