Disclaimer: This is a story about gay people...if you can't read it or don't like gay people, leave. Go...bye. But if you like it, read it and write to me.
Chapter 5: "Don't Let It Go To Your Head."
"So, yeah, I'm pretty much gonna bomb the test." I said, cocking my head to one side and talking on the phone while also putting popcorn in the microwave, " I mean, Hannah, he's so not Mr. Johanssen! Yeah, I guess my little speech was kinda awesome. Maybe they'll erect a statue or there could be cookies and cake...or a more real scenario, I wake up in the morning and find a cross burning in my yard and shrimp scattered on my lawn. Don't ask." I smirked, walking to the living room and putting on the movie '1408', "Yeah, he said that to me. In a list of embarrassing things that happen to me, that's probably the most. And I still don't know who cleaned my locker. Wish I knew, I'd give them a kiss, or not, since my kisses signal the death of any relationship."
The knob on the front door shook and rattled.
I looked back at the door, " Ummm, nanah, I'll call you back. No...Don't say anything to Marco, this isn't a 'Need a big, strong Marco' type situations. It's more like channeling Buffy and kicking someone's ass." I said, " OK, later." I said, hanging up and walking to the door. I looked out and was shocked at who I saw, I ripped the door opened and there stood my mom and dad, " Mom...Dad?" I said, still shocked.
"What're you doin here?" I asked, genuinely shocked to see them.
"We live here." Dad said, walking past me with mom fast behind him.
"Right, umm, but I thought you'd be away longer...like months. Possibly years." I said, following them.
Mom looked hesitant and moved towards me, " Well, we wanted to check on you...are you alright?" she asked, looking as if she wanted to hug me, but something was pulling her from me. It was like some unseen force was holding her in place.
"I'm good, I guess, wh..." I stopped.
Dad sighed and looked down, " We talked to the school. And to that young man's parents, and we even talked to a psychiatrist." he said.
"We want you to get better." Mom said, grabbing my arm.
"Better? What do you mean?" I asked, snatching away from her.
"Honey. I just want you to be happy." She stopped, " We think you should see him."
"I'm not ungood." I said quickly, " I'm better than I have been in a while. You just can't see it 'cause..." I stopped as they stared at me, " I'm fine."
"You beat up an innocent kid." Dad said impatiently.
"After he called me a..." I stopped, " Do you know why things are happening to me?"
"Yes, I we were informed that people are saying that you are..." Mom stopped and looked at my dad.
"Gay African American living in a pretty small town? Yeah, I am." I sighed.
There was silence. Awkward silence. Then there was a BOOM! And the microwave nearly jumped off the counter. Dad and Mom jumped, but I just winced a little and looked back at them.
"So, it's true?" Mom asked, concerned.
I sighed again, " Did you come here to tell me I'm a bad person and that I'll go to hell? Or that I should get out of your house?" I asked.
"No." Dad said quietly, " Son, are you sure you're...I mean, I always knew you were a little feminine, but..."
Mom walked directly in front of me, " Sweetie, being African American and gay is going to be hard! Think about this!" she said, urging me to not be who I was. But I couldn't.
"Mom. What if they told you that they'd take me and dad and you will be Darita Jones, twenty five year old action hero. You'd still be you because you can't be anyone but who you are." I said angrily.
Mom looked at me and nodded, " You should get to bed. School is going to be hard in the morning." she turned and walked to the kitchen, scooping up popcorn kernels off the floor.
"Where's Eric?" I asked.
"This isn't a family meeting, so I told your brother to stay at college. He should be there." Dad said, " Now, you should go to bed."
I nodded and walked past him, up the stairs and into my room.
Davis stood outside of Mrs. Yonkit's History class and waited. He didn't know why he was waiting, he just knew he had to. Davis had been thinking and it occured to him that he couldn't get away from what he was feeling. Christina was back on his jock more than ever, but it still made no difference. All he could think about was Adaen. What Adaen said was true and it stung. It hurt to hear him say that, but Davis had tried to ignore it, and in doing so, made it all that was on his mind. The bell rang and everyone was walking out of class and Adaen walked right in front of him. He was with his ha...best friend. His best friend, Hannah Terrance.
"Hey." Davis said, catching my attention. I turned to him and then looked at Hannah, " Wow, look Hannah, it's Davis Marchall. Do we know you?" I asked.
"You're going to be like that? Look, I'm sorry." Davis said quickly, staring around, probably making sure no one was watching.
"Should I go?" Hannah asked.
"Yeah, but I'll go with." I said, walking away with Hannah. We walked down the hall and I bumped into someone, knocking their books out of their hand, " Sorry, I should..." I looked up to see Julie, " Oh, HEY!" I said cheerily.
"Hey! What's up." Julie said, standing up.
"Nothing. How was the Academiacs?" I asked.
"Boring. A bunch of spoiled brats." Julie said, noticing Hannah, " Hello, I'm Julie Rison, who are you?"
"I'm Hannah." She smiled, " Marco's little sister."
"Oh, right! You're the one who fell into the pool and..."
"Yeah. That one." Hannah said, her cheeks growing red.
"So I heard about your speech. Inspirational." Julie said.
"Really?" I asked.
"I keep telling him that too, but he doesn't believe me." Hannah smirked.
"Yeah, well, at least people aren't being as big of asses as they were." I smirked.
"Oh gosh, well we should talk some time, but not now. I have to set up for the meeting." Julie smiled, " You know, for graduation."
"It's cool, see you later. " I chuckled.
"Later." Hannah said as Julie walked away, " So, is she, like, the exception to that 'all cheerleaders are rude hos'?"
"I would say yes." I smirked, " So are we walking to the house."
"House?" Hannah asked.
"The Haunted one. You know, doom and gloom at its best." I said, looking at her. I stopped dead in my tracks, " You are going to the Haunted House with me right?"
"Ummm, I think it might just be you." Hannah said carefully, " You could ask Marco."
"No. I mean, Marco is great, but haven't I pawned off my problems on him enough?" I asked.
Hannah sighed and rolled her eyes, " Look, he's not just some jock that'll get tired of hearing about you, he's your best friend." she snapped.
"Whoa! That's different." I said.
"Sorry." Hannah said, " But it's true. He'll probably be mad that you didn't ask him."
"Yeah, but..."
"No buts." Hannah said, pointing ahead, " Go."
I nodded and walked up to him, " Hey." he smiled.
"Hey." I said nervously, " Ummm, I kinda asked Hannah to go to the Haunted House with me, but she's, I don't know, painting her face. And I was wondering would you like to come with." I said quickly.
Marco smiled, then frowned, " Ummm, I wish I could, but I have a date." he said slowly.
"Oh. Right. Cause....yeah, no biggie." I said, feeling very dejected. I mean, he had a date. I had never really experienced anything like that, " I'll just go..."
"I mean, I could cancel or we could go with you." Marco said quickly.
I shook my head, " No." I chuckled, " No, I could not ask you to do that."
"I'm offering." Marco said.
"No." I said, finalty dripping from my voice, " So, who's the lucky girl?"
Marco looked at me nervously, " Umm, Julie Rison." he said.
I was silent for a moment, then I nodded, " Great choice." I said, " So, I'll see you later." I said, walking away. As I walked back down the hall, Hannah walked from behind a door, " I'm-going-to-kill-you." I said angrily.
"What happened?" Hannah asked, following me.
I sat in Mr. Compass' class, thinking about the past few weeks. I guess I should explain who he is, he's the teacher that filled in for Mr. Johanssen after the incident. As usual, I sat next to Hannah, who, I noticed, kept staring at Harry Kyle, Marco's best friend. The shocking thing is that he was watching her too. Davis and Ballard sat three desks over from me and I could feel someone watching me, and I assumed it was Davis. Christina and Kendall sat at the back, pointing and laughing at people. I couldn't really concentrate on them, though.
"Can anyone tell me why the Green Knight gave Sir Gawain the green girdle?" Mr. Compass said, " Mr. Marchall, perhaps?"
Davis looked confused, then shrugged, " I'm not sure." he said quickly.
"Why is that?" Mr. Compass said, leaning on the desk.
"Well, maybe because I'm just like everybody else and they didn't get it." Davis sneered, " It didn't make sense."
I raised my hand, " He wanted Sir Gawain to remember their encounter." I said quickly.
"Yeah, but we're not all geeks like you." Ballard laughed.
"I'm geeky cause I did the assignment?" I asked.
"Yeah, a little." Christina said from the back of the class.
I sighed, " Or maybe you're just a bunch of slackers. I mean, sorry, but I did the homework because I felt like it." I said angrily.
"Yeah, but what else did you have to do?" Christina asked.
"What else is there to do? Get drunk? Get high? Yeah, not my thing. I like my brain cells." I said quickly.
"So, what are you saying, that we're dumb?" Christina said, a twinge of angry dripping from her voice.
"I don't judge people like that." I said softly.
The class got really quiet and Mr. Compass cleared his throat, " Ummm, you know what, how about you do your own thing and just be ready for the test." he said, chuckling a little.
I stood in line at the Haunted House. Davis and the usual crew were behind me and I felt a little nervous about this. I mean, going into a scary house alone, not my idea of fun for everyone. I looked back once and Davis smiled nervously at me, but I turned right back around. I walked up to the window and waited to buy my ticket. I stopped and turned red at the guy taking the money, he was chocolate. Literally. And his eyes were a light brown with a close-cut haircut. I could make out his body through the window and oh gosh, he was built. He looked older than me, but not older than twenty four.
"Ummm, one." I said, blushing.
The guy looked at me, then around me, " You're going in alone?" he asked.
"Yeah. Oh, wait, is there a rule against that?" I asked, biting my lip.
He chuckled, " No, it's just that you must be brave to go in alone." he smiled.
"Oh yeah, I'm the bravest of the brave. Just call me Beowulf." I said, causing him to laugh harder, " Sorry, in class we're...and you probably don't want to know this."
"It's kind of fascinating." the guy smiled.
I blushed, " Really?" I asked.
"My name is Zack Kennin, and I go to Massaro College." Zack smiled.
"Oh, well, I'm Adaen Lawrence. I go to Hargrove High." I said quickly.
"High?" he asked.
"As in school?" I answered.
"How old are you?" he asked.
"Seventeen." I replied.
"Oh, then nevermind." he said sadly.
"What?" I asked.
"I was gonna ask you out." he said slowly, " But you are real-life jailbait."
"Am not!" I protested, " I'm old enough to date who I want."
"I'm twenty three." He smiled.
"Damn, I was close." I said to myself. He looked at me oddly, " So?"
"You don't think I'm way too old?" he asked.
"No, but," I snatched my ticket, " I guess we'll never know." I said, walking into the Haunted House.
I slowly moved into the Haunted House, not knowing what to expect. I wasn't really scared, just a little curious, so I moved even slower as I got farther. I stopped when I saw something move. I turned to walk and bumped into a mirror, which scared the sh** out of me.
"Oh, it's just me." I chuckled, turning to bump into someone else, " HOLY CRAP! GOD! Davis, you scared the shit out of me!" I said, punching him in the arm.
Davis chuckled, " Are you okay?" he asked.
"No." I said angrily, " What are you doing here?"
"I got lost." Davis said. I stared at him, " On purpose. You just shouldn't have had to go through this alone."
"This?" I asked.
"The...umm, Haunted House." Davis said quickly.
"Davis, why can't you just admit it?" I asked.
"Well, I tried earlier, but you kind of dismissed me." Davis smiled, " So are you ready to listen?"
"Listen?" I asked, " Okay, I'll bite."
"I really care about you." Davis said, " I think you're not like anyone I've ever met and that makes me like you."
"Thanks." I said sincerely, " You think I'm special."
"Yeah and it's freaking me out." Davis smiled.
I nodded, " Look, we need to....where did the door go?" I asked, looking around, " This is just too creepy."
"When they say Haunted House, they mean it." Davis said, looking around too."
I saw something move again and looked around to see a chainsaw and before I could even hear it, I ran away. As I ran, I saw all the monsters come out but I never stopped. When I got to the end, I was panting so hard that I could barely breath. I looked up in time to see one more scare.
"You made it..." Zack smiled, looking at his watch, " And in record time."
"Yeah. Um, here." I smiled, taking his hand and pulling out a pen, " This is my number. Call me." I smiled, writing my number on his arm and walking away.
I opened the door and slammed it shut. I don't know what was happening to me, but I felt inspired and I needed to say something to my parents. I saw that the house was empty and I ran to the light switch and looked on the end table to see a piece of paper. As I looked at it, I read it out loud:
"Dear Adaen, There was important business in Monte Carlo. Not sure when we'll be back, yours, Mom and Dad." I said to myself and ripped the letter into pieces. I threw it in the trash and walked to the living room and sat on the couch, a tear falling from my eye, I just smiled. I was sad that they were gone, but I knew there might have been business, but they were gone because they couldn't deal. At least in a few more weeks, I'd be out of school and a senior and ready to move away like Eric.