june and the blond boy

Intoxication, Graduation, and Confrontation

ᴊᴜɴᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʟᴏɴᴅ ʙᴏʏ

"holy shit, i'm so nervous." i shook my hands in the air as i paced around the empty school hallway. "man, stop pacing. come here." james stood up from his spot on the floor and led me to the bathrooms. before he entered the boys bathroom, i spoke up. "hold on, i'm not going in there."

he sighed. "okay, fine." he opened the ladies room door. "you can't go in there!" i said.

he dropped his head and sighed again. "you're killing me, whitlock. just go in." he pushed me into the girls bathroom. i looked at him weirdly as i slowly walked in.

"come on, weirdo." he hopped on the sink counter and waved me over, holding a joint between his fingers. i wasn't too fond of underage smoking, but i gave in anyway and took the joint, inhaling deeply and exhaling into a coughing fit.

james laughed and shook his head. after i finally stopped coughing, i passed him the joint and spoke up. "i'm actually so nervous. i might vomit."

"please, do not vomit." he backed away a little. "you'll be just fine. all you gotta do is grab the damn paper and leave, right?"

"yeah, with the entire school and their parents watching me." i said.

"fuck the school and their parents. you worked for this— this is your moment. don't let these assholes ruin it." he pointed a finger at me, passing me the joint again.

i nodded. "thanks."

"no problem, junior. let's go." he patted my shoulder and hopped off the sink. i followed behind him and saw russell waiting right outside the bathroom, eyeing james suspiciously then looking at me. i gave james a look of go away for a second, and he did.

"what the hell was what?" russell asked in a hushed voice, getting closer to me. "nothing." i shook my head, then realized how shady that sounded. "we were just smoking. i was a little stressed, and it helped."

he nodded slowly. "i thought you didn't like smoking."

i chuckled. "well, yeah but jay had it and—" he cut me off. "jay?"

"james." i sighed, growing annoyed. i grabbed russell's hands and took them in my own as i looked up at him. "it was nothing. we passed a joint around then left." i didn't feel like i owed him an explanation when it came to james. i knew him for the majority of my life, and russell didn't need to worry about james so much.

"sorry." he sighed. "i'm stressed too. just buggin' out."

i nodded. "it's okay." i pulled away. "now let's go. it's now or never!" i called over my shoulder as i headed toward the football field.

only about twenty minutes later, i was walking in the middle of the football field toward my principal. i kept my eyes locked on him and didn't even look into the crowd for a second, afraid that i would vomit. i took the certificate from him then shook his hand. as soon as i turned to finally face everyone in the bleachers, i heard the unmistakeable voice of my neighbor booming across the field.

"HELL YEAH! LET'S FUCKIN' GO JUNE!" i couldn't hide my smile, and the camera flashed right in that moment. that picture would hold a moment of true happiness. i was truly happy. not because of the graduation, but because i knew james was there to support me like had been for everything else in my life. for someone who hated me so much, he was really sweet to me.