Brave for Loving the Same Gender

Chapter 3

  I still can't believe I came out to like a quarter of my classmates. I wish gossip didn't spread so fast, but I have to deal with it.

    I went into my class and saw Jessica sitting next to my seat so I sat down next to her. "Hey, how are you?" I asked her. "I'm fine, I guess." She said, sighing. "Are you sure? You were sitting next to my spot when I came in." "Well, when Victoria invited me to a sleepover last night, she thought it was a good idea to yell at me for every small thing I did. She also decided to make me the seeker of hide n seek, and left me outside locked out of the house." "Yeesh, did you take a risk and told her that you don't want to be her friend anymore?" "Yea, she grabbed my stuff and almost threw it at me, yelling at me to go home." "Oh. my god. That's just harsh." "Yea, but I want to forget it all. The worst part is, I had a crush on her too." she said. Then I thought about what Andrew's note said: You are brave for loving the same gender. "Oh man, well good thing you will have a better friend group, why don't you join us for lunch?" I invited her. "Really?" she asked, her face brightening up. "Yes, come and join the crew." I said with a sincere smile. Jessica smiled back. "By the way, name and pronouns?" I asked. "I'm still working on the name so you can call me Jess for now, but my pronouns are She/They. What about you?" she asked back. "Eli, He/him." I said, holding out my hand for a shake. She shook my hand and the bell rang. "Perfect timing, huh?" I said. "Pretty perfect." she said laughing.
     We left the room and went our separate ways. Cass and I went to our next class and sat down next to each other. "I saw Jess sitting with you, were you guys talking about Victoria?" Cass asked. "Yea, they got yelled at and got kicked out of the 'sleepover' that Victoria was having." I said. "Yikes, but that seems normal because of how Victoria acts." "Yeah, she is not good at all." "I wish she moved or something, 'cause everyone is just so depressed when she's around." She said. The bell rang so Cass whispered, "Have you seen how they act when she's sick?" "It's crazy how people's moods change when she isn't here." I whispered and Cass nodded. We turned our attention to the teacher talking. The class was going so slow to the point I almost fell asleep but Cass poked me. I got off of the bus to walk to my house. When I opened the door, I closed it and quickly went up to my room. I set an alarm for 5 pm so I can sleep for an hour and a half. I napped until I heard a loud noise, so I turned off my phone and got up. I checked my phone to see if Leo texted me, and he did.

6:23
Leo: Hey Eli, you know where I live already, right?
6:34
Me: Yes, I do know where you live, remember? I came over a lot when we were kids.
Me: I'll come over in a few minutes.
6:35
Leo: Alr, I'll cya later.

    I unplugged the cord from the guitar to the amp, and I stood up to put away my guitar. I fixed my bed, and put one small spray of cologne on, so I didn't have to smell bad. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I got out of the bathroom and walked to the door. I grabbed my computer and the keys to my family's house. "Mom, Dad! I'm going over to Cass's house tonight!" I yelled out. "Okay, have fun Eli!" My dad, yelling back. I opened the door and pushed it closed while walking outside. Then I locked the door. I went into the garage, and grabbed my skateboard. After I left the garage, I closed the door. I put the skateboard on the ground and got on it. The skateboard started moving and I leaned with it. I kicked the ground to make it go faster and waited until I saw the street that Cass's house is on.

    I slowed the skateboard down and leaned, to make the skateboard turn onto the street. I let the skateboard move and waited til I saw the house to slow down more. I stopped the skateboard and walked to Cass's house. I texted Leo that I was at his house.
    I went to knock on the door waiting for a response. Cass opened the door, and let me in. "What are you doing here?" Cass asked. "Don't you remember that I came here to hang out with Leo?" I said, while Leo then ran over to the door, and realized that Cass opened it for me instead of him. "Damn, you beat me to it." Leo said play punching Cass, and Cass laughed evilly at him like a witch. Me and Leo went up to his room, and it surprisingly changed a little since I last saw it. I looked around, and realized all of his space collection disappeared. "Where did your space collection go? When I last came here, there were stars and planets all over your ceiling!" I said. "Oh, I gave them to a little kid that loved space. I used to like it a lot but I'm way too old for them now." He said. "I get it. I used to have a hobby that I would do for a long, long time." I chuckled. "And what is that?" "Writing." "Oh. Do you still write?" "Sometimes." I sighed. "Well it's been a while since I last wrote soo.." I paused, "My writing skills are a little rusty." I finished saying.
    I went over to my bag and grabbed my computer and set it down on his desk, and started typing. Leo walked over to me and asked "What are you writing down?" "You'll see. When is your birthday?" "Why?" "I need to do something." "April 2nd..?" "Okay cool." I wrote down his birthday on my computer and started making a card. His birthday is 4 months away.

    We talked about ourselves, and told each other what we liked, like colors for example. I love the colors green, and blue. Leo likes the colors Pink, Blue and Red. I told him that I played the electric guitar, and sometimes played the drums. He told me he used to play the trumpet. We talked about what books we like and which planet is the best. I voted for Jupiter, and Leo voted for Saturn. I told Leo that I like doing Photography. I told him that the sky is beautiful to take pictures of. And I also told him I like Photography because it is art. Photography is art, depending on how you put it. I told him that I liked hanging out with him and he just smiled and nodded. "I like hanging out with you too." Leo said. I smiled. "Next time we hangout, wanna go to my place? I could show you my guitar." I asked. "Oh sure! I'd love to come over to your house. Hey, maybe you can even teach me how to play the guitar! Or even drums!" Leo exclaimed. I looked away and smiled. "Maybe." I hope Leo and I are going to get along well.
    I looked at the time and it was 9:50 pm. "Oh shoot! I gotta go." I exclaimed and packed up, I sighed and closed my computer. "Right, I'll uhh walk you out the door." Leo said, smiling afterwards. We both got up and walked out of the bedroom to go to the front door. Leo opened the door and I walked out. "Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow!" I smiled. I got onto my skateboard and pushed off. I was halfway to my house when I realized it was pitch black, with no street lights. I grabbed my phone and turned the flashlight on. When I was on my street and closeby to my house, I got off of my skateboard, then grabbed my key and put it in the lock. I went upstairs to my room, put my skateboard on the floor near the door and jumped into my bed.