Elven High School

Chapter 1 - Grocery Store

My name is Harley Ray Wilson. 

I'm a sprite and I live out in the country. I was born to Gene and Anna-Ray Wilson, however, right after I was born, my parents were taken by hunters. I was found by a couple of male elves- one name Gene like my dad was named, and the other named Apollo, like the Greek god. Gene is tall and handsome, he has soft pale skin and long grey hair that falls down his back like a curtain. He always wore cool fashions and loved colorful things. Apollo, really did look like he could be a Greek god, he had beautiful cascading curls that fell to his round butt, however, unlike Gene, Apollo almost always wore blue, black, and grey. The both had pretty emerald rings on their fingers and speak with the same southern twang I have, and they both have small enough ears to hide behind their hair. I felt lucky with my big blue curls, they help cover my ears, which are larger than theirs. 

Did I mention that they were married? I don't really care that they are both men and love each other. In fact, I think it's pretty odd to see men with women because that's not what I grew up with. They once told me that when I was little, I would see them kissing and yell "Eeeww! That's gross!" real loud. Apollo would ask me why, and I said it was because it's gross when anyone kisses anyone. Gene would then pick me up and kiss me all over and ask me if it was gross, and I would say no and run away, back to whatever else I was doing. Moral of the story, I never knew that people actually thought two boys kissing was wrong to people until one fateful day when I was out at the store with my parents. 

I was seven years old and we needed to go to the grocery store, so Gene and Apollo took me with so I could go and not only learn how to be a decent person in public, but so I could learn how to pick the things I needed from the store. Our number one rule was that I was never allowed to pick both when I wanted two things. "It doesn't teach you how to make the priority choice" Gene always said. Gene was the one who always wanted me to learn how to be fast and efficient, while his husband always thought it was important to take time and make the right choices.

 Apollo was walking and looking at some vegetables. He found a green tomato and picked it up. 

"Babe, this doesn't look like it would go here with these nice, ripe tomatoes," he said to Gene. We were unlucky because he said the word "babe" while looking at another man and a homophobic woman just happened to be walking by. The woman gave them a soft smile, then looked down at me. She then looked up at them, straightening her face a little. 

"Is this your little brother? He's very cute," she asks. We got asked this a lot because Apollo has a very young face and so does Gene. However, there was something wrong about the way she asked us that- it was almost as if she knew I wasn't either Gene or Apollo's little brother. 

"He's not. He's our son," Apollo says with a soft, antagonizing smile. This causes the woman to nod, then frown a little bit. 

"That poor little boy... I don't think he's ever gonna now how to treat a woman. And obviously, you two don't know how to love women or treat them right either. That's so sad... I really hope he has a female figure in his life to help him," The woman says in a disapproving tone. I simply looked up at her with a sad looking face. I was a 7 year old little kid. All I knew was that men and men, women and women, and men and women all had relationships and that it was okay. What I never learned was that it was a bad thing, and that 2 men can't raise a child correctly. I looked down at my toes, sighing a little. I felt embarrassed as a kid with homosexual parents. 

"He'll be just fine ma'am, don't you worry," Gene says with a small smile as well. Our number two rule was to always smile and be civil, even when someone is getting on your last nerve. Smile now, and show your wrath later. Apollo took my hand and the woman sighed at us, then walked away. We walked away as well, and Apollo continued to hold my hand throughout the store, all the way until we got home. I don't remember much of the rest of that day, besides one other thing that happened. 

I was sitting in my room, drawing. It was a picture of 2 girls holding hands, flowers in their other hands. I remember Apollo walking in and calling me downstairs, saying we were all just going to talk as a family. I nodded and got up, heading down to the living room and sitting down on the squishy beige sofa. That sofa was the best sofa I've ever sat on- it hugs your body in all the right places, and everyone that came to our house always commented on how comfortable the sofa was. It's still around in the house, I could sit on it all day...

Gene sat down on one side of me while Apollo sat on the other side of me. Our old dog, Luna, came and curled up on the floor close to us. It was family talk time, and Luna always seemed to listen. Gene took a small breath of air in, then began speaking to us. 

"You remember what happened at the store today?" he asks me. I nodded to him, saying yes. 

"Did she hurt your feelings?" Apollo asks. I nodded again. 

"I'm sorry you had to experience that... but that's what families like ours have to deal with, very often. However, if you let what people like that Miss say to you hurt you and you show it, they will be getting what they want. They'll be seeing you sitting there, ashamed of who you are" Apollo says to me. Afterwards, Gene began to talk. 

"Don't ever let another person's opinions or words change you. Then our community will be lost, and stuck hiding in the shadows again. You need to stand up to them and make them understand that there's nothing you can do to get rid of us or make us different," Gene says. 

"And when you see another person that's like us that can't stand up for themselves, try to stand up for them. We all have to stick together, too, right, honey?" Apollo asks me. I always felt warm and gushy inside when he called me "honey" or "buddy". I nodded to him and he smiled, kissing my head and holding me in his lap. 

"You're gonna grow up a good person, Harley," Gene says "Now let's go and get some dinner."

I don't remember where we went for dinner, but I know we went out to eat and I got a tasty burger. It was some place that closed down about a year after we went there, and I had only been to that place a couple of times. 

However, that was the day I had to get into my head the importance of being a strong and defensive person. I couldn't let anyone get to me- ever.