Vance Hopper's sexuality crisis

04

Bruce stepped off his bus gloomily and walked into the high school. He desperately hoped something, someone, would make him feel better. He might get a bunch of questions if he's mopey all day.

He wasn't even sure if he wanted to talk to finney anymore. What if he offended him in some way? He didn't wanna do that, he considered finney one of his closer friends, and he didn't have that many of those.

He was surrounded by a lot of people all the time, but they didn't care about him. They cared about his popularity, they cared about the high school hierarchy. Bruce himself hadn't meant to let himself get wrapped up in it but the attention felt so good, most of the time. The constant praise kept him in a constant chokehold, how could he disobey when the reward of keeping up his image was so good?

Bruce figured he'd have to talk to finney eventually so he might as well do it as fast as possible. I mean with the dream he had he couldn't really do much denying on the fact he was interested in boys. A boy.. Maybe it was because Vance had long curly hair, like a girl would have. Or maybe his pretty red lips? Those eyes?

Bruce realized he'd just been standing against some lockers, completely zoned out. Well, that was embarrassing. He blinked his eyes rabidly and started walking to his homeroom, which more or so conveniently had finney in it.

He entered the doorway and beelined straight for Finney, sitting down right next to him. Finney looked at him with a confused smile. They sat together sometimes but Bruce was usually crowded by half the class whenever he took a seat.

"Heya finney!" He said charismatically, smiling brightly. There's no way he could talk about his boy crush in a big classroom like this.

"Hi Bruce." Finney said, his small smile growing ever so slightly. Bruce could bet that he was receiving scalding glares from his 'fan club'.

"So, I was wondering if you could meet me at lunch, I need to talk to you about something important." Bruce said, he was trying to sound as casual as possible, he didn't wanna make Finney nervous, he was definitely the anxious type.

"Oh, uh, yeah I can meet you. Can Robin come? He doesn't really like when I go to one on one things given..er past events." Finney asked nervously. Bruce wasn't thrilled of the idea, knowing he wasn't exactly Robin's favorite person, but he supposed Robin knew about liking boys just as much as finney would.

Bruce nodded, his smile shrinking ever so slightly. It was almost completely unnoticeable but his mood has changed drastically. With his objective out of the way his head crashed back into the worry and guilt.

"Is something wrong, Bruce?" Finney asked, worry encapsulating his face. Bruce couldn't help but smile at his friend's compassion for him.

"Yeah, finney, everything's alright." Bruce said, making eye contact with finney. Finney immediately looked relieved.

Bruce decided to change the course of the conversation in case Finney decided he was especially interested in the well-being of his friend. "So, how have you been?"

The two settled into an easy conversation completely focused on Finney. Perfect.

Bruce had slumped through half his day with no sightings of Vance. He really couldn't tell if he was happy or disappointed about it so he didn't let his mind dwell on it. Much like all his other problems, he pushed it to the back of his head and moved on.

He walked into the cafeteria, his eyes scanning over the loud room for Finney. Once he laid his eyes on the boy he started walking over. He was halfway there when someone tugged in his sleeve. Bruce turned to look at the girl, it was someone who sat at his usual table. He knew her name but they weren't friends. Not at all.

"Uh, hi?" Bruce said, looking at her oddly. Clearly she was about to share her opinion on how absolutely befuddling it is that he isn't sitting with her and the rest of his 'friends'.

"Bruce!" She said in this weird, annoyingly whiny voice. Here we go. "Why are you all the way over here? The table is back that way!" She nagged, tugging on his sleeve harder.

"Oh, I'm gonna sit with my other friend today." Bruce said, giving her a tight smile. He was trying to leave out as much detail as possible, hoping she'd get that it wasn't her business and go back to her table. Of course that didn't work.

"Who." She said roughly, her sweet demeanor dropping quickly. It was almost unsettling how quickly she changed her whole mood. Bruce sighed.

"Does it matter?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. At this point he'd get on his knees and pray for her to just go away. He was just trying to have a crisis with his friend in the comfort of the boys bathroom or a hallway.

"Well, yeah!" She said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Bruce was getting a little bit tired of this girl. They meant nothing to each other yet she was still over here bothering him about something as simple as sitting somewhere else.

"Well if it's so important, I'm sitting with Finney." Bruce said, rolling his eyes and nodding towards where the boy had been sitting. Where he would've also been sitting if this girl could get a grip on reality.

"Finney? Like, Finney the fag? Why would you sit with him, Bruce?" She said it so casually. Like it was perfectly normal and not something incredibly hateful. Fuck. Did he even wanna like a boy? Was it worth it?

Bruce had a sour taste in his mouth. He felt sick. She was still looking at him with genuine confusion in her eyes. Bruce hated her. He hated all of the kids in his stupid fan club. They were all like this.

Bruce's tight smile quickly fell into a deep frown. He balled up his fists in anger. "Don't call him that." He muttered, glaring at her.

"Why? It's true, Bruce. We've all seen him with his little beaner boyfriend. They're both fags. It's gross." She said, giving him a scowl back. What a dumb ass bitch.

"Y'know what? Fuck you, Heather! You're a rude little bitch who likes to pretend she's better than everyone because she hangs out with popular kids and her parents make money. News flash! No one gives a shit!" Bruce yelled, jabbing her in the shoulder with his finger.

They were definitely getting looks now. Bruce had just declared his hate for one of the most 'popular' girls in the school in the middle of the lunch room. Heather was staring at him in shock.

Even Finney and Robin were staring at them from the table where they'd been waiting for him to finish his altercation.

Bruce fully thought he could just storm out of the lunch room and be on his merry way. Of course that didn't happen. Some football jock started stomping towards the two of them, Bruce recognized him as the guy that would hang around Heather on occasion. Her boyfriend.

He was totally fucked wasn't he?