Now You Know ✅

Chapter 19: Come Out, Break Up

A/N

Thank you for those who have been voting for this book (you know who you are) - you guys really motivate me!

So here's a long chapter for you (nearly 3K words lol). Do comment - they really make me laugh!

Enjoy?

Pelham remained under the roof for another couple of days, constantly coughing and sneezing, his nose more active than he physically ever was. The last day of the trip had it bad for him, and he mused on whether the other students who had gone to the trip were as sick as him. During the two days in which he stayed inside the house, he FaceTimed Roshon, who was doing a fairly brilliant work in New York. April also came around, giving him the company he really needed.

But then Lucio started occupying his brain. He couldn't help but be awash with guilty conscience every time he found the boy lingering somewhere in his head. It was as though Pelham had betrayed himself. Whether Lucio was doing okay, he couldn't tell. He remembered about the bullies. Will he be okay? he thought to himself. He was conscious of the fact that he rarely saw Lucio around before they were close together. Of course, he hadn't been paying much attention then. Again, he couldn't help but feel the guilt tugging at his heart. He had, after all, told Lucio that he would see him at school.

Pelham hadn't forgotten about Lucio telling him how he and Roshon were his first real friends - apart from, now that Pelham remembered, one girl whose name Lucio hadn't mentioned. Pelham kept burying his head in his arms whenever this thought flooded his head, bearing down the remorse as though he had done a sacrilegious act. He could tell that Lucio must be waiting for him all day. He has his classmates, though, Pelham kept on reminding himself, trying to lift the weight off his shoulders. It should be as normal as before I became his friend.

That didn't help, however. He really wanted to see Lucio, ask whether he was okay. He hadn't realised just how much he cared for the boy. Not that he was pitying him - he didn't think Lucio would like that. On the one hand, Pelham hadn't had the faintest idea on why Lucio kept itching at the back of his mind, as though there was something he had to tell him but couldn't quite reach it.

It was there, all right.

Pelham had gotten better on Friday morning. He was planning to go to school, but thought better of it. It was, after all, Friday. Besides, he had already e-mailed his subject teachers that he was sick, informing them that he wasn't sure when he was coming back. He didn't exactly laze around the house that whole week. As a matter of fact, he had caught up with his missed lessons from his classmates and even asked whether there were any assignments. So far, there was none, seeing as not that many students were present. All in all, Pelham was far from being in trouble.

He wasn't contented, however. The fact that he was stuck inside the house and lying on his bed daily was gradually afflicting him. Moreover, the fever had added up to his mental misery, confining his conflicts altogether that there was no other way out than sleep. And even then, the nightmares never exactly left. He never knew suffering a fever could damage him more.

He had heard news every now and then about children coming out to their parents and bearing the devastating outcomes. There were a number of parents who were judiciously benevolent and permissive, supporting their children even, though the frequent ones he kept hearing was the children being disparaged, abused and worst, disowned. Who knew what else took place after that? Pelham was too perturbed to find out. It was vile enough that they were being harassed by their own parents.

Be that as it may, Pelham knew that those people - the inverts - were resolute. Adamant. Unwavering. They had plucked up their courage, gathered their guts, just to come out, because they knew there were two paths after that; the good and bad. If they could do it, then he should be able to do it too.