Unconditional Validation

Chapter 5

I hate my parents! Why did I have to have a name for myself before I graduated high school?! I shouted to myself in my head. I just want to live a normal life without hiding, I thought to myself while trying not to cry again. Why is it hard to be normal when out there, I'm with the best of the best in the arts? When I also have a mental disorder on top of that?! I asked myself these questions while holding back a sob.

"Oof!" the tall jock blurted when I accidentally bumped into him when I turned a corner.

Oh no! Not again! I complained in my head. I need to watch where I'm going when I'm zoning out! I scolded myself.

The tall jock dusted his jersey shirt off before looking at me. He looked at me up and down with a scowl. I looked back at him nervously.

"Watch where you're going!" He shouted at me while grabbing me by my denim jacket.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't know you were there!" I stammered with a tear falling down.

"That's what they all say! Hey, why do you kind of look like Ry-" the jock started to say before he was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Killian! Let go of him! It was an accident!" I saw Justin walk quickly over to us.

The jock grunted and pushed me aside with some force. I almost fell to the ground, but I gracefully caught my balance while the dude walked away. I watched the guy in disbelief briefly talk to Justin before walking away from him too.

"Hey you ok?" Justin asked me as he stood right in front of me.

"Y-Yeah, thank you," I smiled softly while drying my eyes from the tears.

"Anytime man! You need someone to walk with to your class?" Justin smiled at me.

"I wouldn't mind that," I replied with a smile.

I was sitting at my desk in my third-period class, English, bored and alone. When I was about to think of what happened earlier, the end of class bell rang. It pushed me out of my head, and I quickly packed my things into my backpack. I almost forgot that Meghan was in my class until she called my name.

"Tyler, wait up!" I heard Meghan exclaim from behind me.

I quickly stopped and turned around. I waited for her to catch up to me.

"Hey, I saw you zone out for a second in class back there. Is everything okay?" Meghan asked me with concern while we were walking.

I don't want to worry Meghan or my sister, I thought to myself.

"I'm fine! Just a bit of first day jitters left in me!" I smiled with a fake smile.

"That's fine, we've all had them before!" Meghan reassured me with a smile.

"Yeah," I continued with my fake enthusiasm.

The two of us continued walking until we ended up right in front of the gym.

"Please text me if something happens, okay?" Meghan says softly while squeezing my shoulder for a bit.

"Of course," I smiled in response.

Meghan and I both parted ways to each other's next class. I quietly walked into the main gym. Before I could try to sit down on one of the bleachers, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was. My face dropped when I realized who it was!

"Hey weren't you here yesterday with those three girls?" the gym teacher, I think his name was Mr. Jenson, asked me.

"Y-Yeah," I stuttered.

"So you actually have gym this period?" Mr. Jenson asked me with concern.

"Yes," I slowly nodded.

"Ok good, also I saw Principal Herrera's email. Don't worry I won't put you in the same class as your brother either," Mr. Jenson stated.

Wait! Ryder's in the same gym class as me?! I frantically thought.

"Thanks," I smiled quietly.

"Oh, one more thing. Today is another chill day, so just hang out in the bleachers," the gym teacher smiled.

Thank god! I definitely don't need a repeat of what happened earlier this morning, I smiled at myself.

"Ok I will," I replied with a bit more excitement.

"I know you probably have all the friends in the world, but you should try hanging out with that one! I bet you two could get better with physical activity together!" Mr. Jenson joked with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes and laughed at the joke.

He pointed over to the left side of one of the bleachers, where a guy with curly dirty blonde hair was sitting by himself. I thanked the gym teacher and walked over to the guy.

"H-Hey, I'm new here, could I sit with you?" I asked the blonde guy nervously.

The curly blonde guy looked up from what he was doing. He was wearing an olive green linen short-sleeved shirt that was paired with dark blue distressed jeans. His hair was dyed blue at the tips of his curls. The guy also had a single earring on his right ear.

"Oh my god! Yes, of course!" The guy smiled in excitement with his hand out, "I'm Cameron, what's your name, hun?"

"I'm Tyler," I replied softly while sitting down next to him.

Cameron looked at me up and down for a second before the realization of who I was kicked in. The instant that happened, I knew what was going to happen next.

Oh no. Not this again! I groaned to myself.

"Wait, Tyler? As in the Tyler Bla-" Cameron started to ask.

Before Cameron could finish, I quickly grabbed his arm. I did it so he wouldn't say it too loud.

"Please don't say it out loud! I'm already having a bad day!" I whisper-yelled nervously.

"Ohhhh, I'm so sorry!" Cameron replied, "I promise I won't tell anyone yet!"

"You're fine, I can only handle one freak-out a day," I smiled with a hint of being nervous.

There was some awkward silence between the two of us. There was also the stupid bell that rang to signal the beginning of the fourth class-period.

"Sooo...what were you working on?" I asked Cameron to break the silence.

"Oh yeah! I'm sketching out a new project that I want to paint!" Cameron exclaimed happily while pulling his sketchbook back out.

To be honest, I was quite impressed by Cameron's drawing skills! The image he was drawing was about two guys having a picnic date by a waterfall. The details were immaculate! Cameron knew I was awestruck.

"You like what you see?" Cameron asked with a smirk.

"Uh yeah! I love it!" I nodded with a smile.

I looked up towards the other end of the bleachers by the door. My heart fluttered when I saw Justin walk into the gym and up that side of the bleachers where his friends sat. It sank though when I saw that my brother was in his friend group. I really wanted to talk to Justin, but I couldn't because my stupid brother was over there.

"Hey everyone!" Mr. Jenson called out to everyone there, pulling my gaze away from the group over there, "The class groups have been emailed to all of you, so please check who you're going to be with!"

I opened my email app on my phone and switched it to my school email. With much hesitation, I finally opened the email from Mr. Jenson. I started scanning through the lists of people. There were three classes for each of the three teachers. I saw that I was placed under Mr. Jenson.

Great. I jokingly deadpanned to myself.

I smiled when I saw that Cameron, my new friend, was in my class. I also saw Cameron's two friends, who weren't here today, in our class as well. Their names were Sarah and Myles. Cameron was really ecstatic about that. My body froze, however, when I saw two names, under Mr. Jenson's name, I really wish that I could unsee. Justin. Two lines underneath his name, Killian.