Brave for Loving the Same Gender

Chapter 1

I am dreaming, well I was dreaming until I heard a yell. "Eli!" My mother called, but I didn't budge. I then heard someone running up the steps, and heard the door creaking open. "Elias William Bradford, get up!" My mother said, turning on the light. "Yes mother." I said, covering my eyes to block the brightness. I don't like picking fights with my mom. She can be scary at times, but I love her anyway. My father is well.. The opposite of that, he is amiable. He is super nice to his friends, co-workers, and is good at his job. He was the employee of the month about 6 times!
    I got up while my dog came into my room smiling and wagging his tail and licked my face. "Good boy Rocko." I said to him while I headed down to the kitchen, following my mother downstairs. "Did you forget that today is the first day of Highschool?" she asked. "Sortof." I said. "There's a bowl, milk and cereal on the kitchen table if you want it." she said. "I think I know that." I said, pouring the cereal into a bowl that my mother had left out for me. Rocko came over to me, and started wagging his tail, sitting next to me while I ate my cereal.

    I got up and put the bowl in the sink so I can go up to the bathroom to brush my teeth and finish getting ready for school. I went down the stairs and sat on the couch. We watched the news, it's gonna be sunny with scattered clouds. We kept silent until I had to leave for the bus stop. "Have fun at school, Eli." I heard my mom say. "I know, I will have a great time." I said in a sarcastic, monotone voice.
    I went to the bus stop and sat down, waiting for the bus. It was a couple of minutes waiting for the bus and I almost walked back home to get a ride from my mom, but then I saw the bus around the corner. The bus stopped and I got on to find my friends Orion and Cass sitting at the very back of the bus, our normal spot.
    Cass was my childhood friend, and still is my friend. She was a gothic type, she would wear anything black or a dark color like red or dark purple. Orion was a scene or emo type, they love bright/neon colors. Orion also dresses goth, but on special occasions like dances or just when there is a field trip. I met Orion when they moved to our school in 5th grade. Cass and Orion both had a curvy build. My build was slim. I like the fall colored sweaters you usually see on social media, unless that's only me and others who also like those, see them on certain platforms. Cass would wear black and white makeup, and Orion changes their makeup style quite a ton.
    I sat across from Cass, who had a male with black hair and beautiful brown eyes, sitting next to her. He has a grunge-ish style. He could be five-foot-one or maybe five-foot-two, but I can't tell since he is sitting. Cass and the stranger looked very similar. "Hey Cass, hey Orion, who is this?" I asked. "My brother Leo, have you forgotten? Remember how I told you two weeks ago about how he's joining our school?" Cass asked. "Oh that's right, yes I did forget.. Leo changed a lot so I didn't remember who he was. When was the last time we saw each other, like 7 or 8 years?" I asked. "I think so.. It's been a while since we last saw each other." Leo said. "Yea." I said. We were silent for the rest of the trip to school. I stared at Leo for a minute.
    I looked away to face the window to find that the bus took a turn into the school. After the bus stopped in the parking lot, we were allowed to get off.

    We were putting our stuff into the locker, I was staring at Leo and realized that he was five-foot-five. "I can't believe we are all Freshmen." Cass said while sighing. "Yea, isn't it great? We're in high school, and all of the middle schoolers will think we are cool!" Ori exclaimed. I looked over to her seeing her smiling wide. Then I looked back at Leo and zoned out.
    "Hello?? Earth to Eli." Cass said. I looked away to look into my locker, "It is kind of nice. But middle schoolers already thought that we were cool because we are older than them. I already started to miss it." I said while Leo nodded. Orion, Leo, Cass and I all exchanged schedules, to figure out who is going where. I have 3 classes with Leo, 1 class with Orion, and 4 classes with Cass. The first class I have is with both Cass and Leo, which is History. Leo, Cass and I went to History and sat down. The bell rang. We were talking about our summer vacation, and how we will actually start in a couple of days. That's when a group of three girls, named Victoria, Jessica and Erica came in. They are mean, but that's how most popular girls in books or movies act. Well this isn't a movie, just my life. One of the girls, Victoria, is the "leader" of the group. She's in my first class. Jessica, I think she's a part of the Lgbtqia+. The reason why I think that she is, is because she's mostly been near other people with styles like us. She once or twice dressed up as a goth and hung out with a group of goths, but I don't think Victoria and I think Erica approved of her dressing that way. Not a lot of straight people dress goth so it really takes one (gay person) to know one. Erica, she has a boyfriend, a jock named Andrew (basic name, I know right?), but he's been nice since I came out to him, he never told anyone else and I'm thankful for that because not everyone can keep secrets. I love Andrew. I love him a lot, but he's with Erica and I don't want anything dramatic starting. I also don't want to be called certain names.
    Victoria walked up to me, "O.M.G. Hey Elias!!" Victoria paused and looked at Cass, Orion and Leo and made disgusted faces. "What's your schedule?" she asked looking back at me. "Err, why?" I asked suspiciously, and I didn't bother correcting her about my name because she really doesn't need to know my nickname, but she probably knows already. "Oh I just wanna know! I want to see if we are in most of the same classes!" she said. I hope she isn't in any other classes with me, because she is pretty obsessed with me. She showed me her schedule and we have 3 classes together, great. I gently pushed her away from me. "Sooo, what is your schedule?" She asked. "I'm not giving it to you Victoria." I said. She went to her table and sat down, while huffing loudly. She likes to try and sue the school to get more classes with me, but I figured it out and haven't given her my schedule since then because I don't like her all that much.
    The teacher introduced themself. The teacher is Non-binary, and their name is Mx. Remy. "Ew, that's disgusting!" Victoria said loudly, standing up. "I hate gay and weirdo gender people!" she continued, like she was about to yell. Jessica looked down like she was embarrassed or something after she said that. Mx. Remy was about to say something, but I interrupted them. "Victoria, why do you believe you are 'so cool' for discriminating against a gender or a sexuality?" I asked. "It's because they are weird!!" Victoria said. "And how is it weird exactly? I'm gay, I like guys. Is it weird that I like guys? Am I disgusting?" I kept asking questions. Victoria just looked at me in a sort of shocked look. Jessica stood up, and suddenly the attention rose to her. "Vicky," She paused, "Victoria I need to tell you something. I needed to say this for years. I'm lesbian, I like girls. You can't just change someone for who they like because you can't just mass murder gay people and think they are gonna turn straight. They can die loving who they want." Jessica said. Victoria nearly cried. The other students looked at each other and whispered. Everything felt like it was slowed down, the way that everyone paused. Everyone sat down, while Jessica looked at me and smiled when I looked at her. Thank you, I saw her sign.
    I walked out of the classroom because the bell rang. If the teacher never said that they were Non-binary, Victoria would've never had a tantrum and Jessica and I would've never admitted that we were gay. While Cass and I walked to our next class, she whispered "Well that was an interesting confession Eli, I wouldn't think you would say that out loud to everyone. Also, that was a huge confession from Jessica!" "Yeah, and now I'm kind of scared about how everyone is gonna treat her and me but mostly for Jessica, because people gossip and it. spreads. fast." I whispered in a sort of angry tone. "Well, time for Chemistry." Cass said. "Yeah." I said.