Zombie High

Chapter 9 - Homo, You're A Homo

Chapter 9 – Homo, You’re A Homo

 

Brand sat on his bed as he clicked through some of the emails his fans submitted for video topics. So far, he spotted the topic request of gay marriage almost five times. He did his best to stay up to date on the news, but apparently missed the newscast about how everybody now supported gay marriage and only wanted to talk about gay things. Brand just kept clicking through and decided to rely on his own choice of topic, rarely taking these topic requests seriously.

 

Matt looked over his shoulder. “Wait, scroll back up.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I saw the word ‘gay’.”

 

Brand shrugged. “Oh, some people want me to do a topic about gay marriage.”

 

Matt laughed. “Awesome, do it.”

 

“No, why would I? It’s boring and causes too much drama.”

 

Matt hugged his arms around Brand’s torso. “Because someday you will marry me, doofus.”

 

“Whatever. I don’t want to be the gay guy talking about gay stuff, it’s so overdone.”

 

“But people don’t even know we’re gay. That’s going to change soon though.”

 

Brand glanced back at him. “What are you talking about?”

 

“I’m going to post a blog soon coming out too everybody. It’s time the world knows the full me.”

 

“It won’t change anything. Actually it will, you’ll get kicked off the basketball team.”

 

“Nah,” Matt disagreed. “I’m one of the best players. And it will change something, the views on gays.”

 

“What?”

 

“People think all gay guys do is shop and prance around. They think we’re girls. I’m not a chick, they suck.”

 

Brand shrugged. “Still, you coming out won’t change that.”

 

“And that’s why you should do it with me. You’re more popular and will change a lot of views.”

 

Brand shook his head in protest. “Nope, I’m more than just gay. I’m Brand, a very complex person.”

 

“Homo, you’re a homo. It’s a part of you. A homo, a black guy, a web star, a great kisser, be proud of those things.”

 

“I am,” Brand answered a bit annoyed. “But I don’t have to shove it down’s people throat.”

 

“I don’t know if you’re being stupid or just trying to turn me on,” Matt joked. “Seriously, man up, be brave.”

 

Brand was insulted by the last part of Matt’s comment. He was brave; he talked about and did things other students feared. Brand was very proud of whom he was and it didn’t matter if others knew or not. Of course in the back of his mind Matt taunting him to be brave stuck with him. He didn’t want to go through a corny coming out process and be praised in the comment or even deal with being insulted by others in comments on his video. Brand was fine with how things were.

 

“Once I come out people will know why we’re always together,” Matt said. “They’ll know about it anyways.”

 

Brand understood his point. He didn’t want his sexuality to be broken through the grapevine of high school gossip.

 

“So, are you in or out,” Matt asked.

 

“Fine, just write your blog and once you’re done I’ll read it on my show and simply say I’m your boyfriend.”

 

Matt thought about. “I like that, subtle but a strong declaration of our relationship. Awesome.”

 

Brand replayed the video of him reading that letter and coming out mentally in his head. It was one of his highest rated shows and even grew his fan base. It took him awhile to admit to Matt that he was right and to also thank him for helping him share his full self to the world.

The experience taught Brand that he didn’t know everything and that maybe some of his views and opinions weren’t as right as he thought. He allowed more input from his team and actually used fan submitted topics on his webshow, no longer fearing their ideas and help would ruin his project.

It felt good to have people help him, making planning episodes more fun and less stressful. Brand was a lot more optimistic about surviving this zombie invasion as Carey and John helped him from the floor. He would not be able to make it to the cafeteria alone and thanks to them, their help; they were only a few feet away from possibly arriving there.