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Chapter 24- Moving On, Meeting Obstacles

Leaving the high school that you've just spent up to four years attending and trying to move on to a few more years of further education elsewhere was a very daunting and nerve-racking experience for all of the students leaving Oaken Ridge High School the following September.
Both Connor and Jonah had joined the list of students who'd not chosen to remain at the school they had met, although, they hadn't then moved on to the same school afterwards.
Jonah had found himself in college, studying for his bachelor's degree in medicine. Meanwhile, at another high school, a short distance away from this college, Connor had been accepted into a sixth form to study English literature, drama, and history.
Their schools were within walking distance but, despite how easy it was for one to see the other after their day was done, it didn't excuse or change the fact that the pair of them would grow somewhat distant, meeting new people and not seeing one another every single day.

For Connor, there was Matt; Matt the blonde, young man in his history class, who'd decided to sit beside him on their first day. Although it had taken some time for the two of them to engage in actual conversation, when they finally did, the long-haired boy found himself getting along with the blonde very well.
Eventually, the sixth form students were called upon, all encouraged to aid the younger students of the school by hosting a kind of support group, allowing other teenagers who feel troubled by school work, bullies or issues at home to attend and talk to others who may experience the same issues. Naturally a kind and supportive young man, Connor immediately stepped up to join them. Matt also volunteered to host this support group, winning many member's respect, the number including Connor, with his suggestion to host assemblies every so often to educate the students on issues people their age may be struggling with, and he sounded very keen on starting with LGBTQ+ education. In fact, it kept coming up after that, Matt insisting that the students needed to know of the spectrum and how it is, in fact, completely natural.
"For example," he began during the final debate about this idea, looking back to the rest of the sixth formers, "is anybody here gay?"
The long-haired male watched as the students exchanged glances, somehow, even seeing how accepting this one member was, they seemed reluctant to admit that they were on the spectrum or supporting of those who were. At last, someone spoke.

"I'm gay," they all heard, turning to see the curly-haired boy with his hand partially raised. After this, two others spoke up, a female student announcing her bisexuality and a male student informing them that he was pansexual.
The assemblies were arranged to take place every two months.

"Is he gay?" was the first question Jonah had decided to ask upon hearing about this decision and the young man who'd put it forward. He'd asked this question with an expression that hadn't shifted throughout the entire conversation, a look to display how unamused he was, how much he disliked hearing this particular story and how upset he truly was at it.

Naturally, having known him for some time now, Connor picked up on this; the way he kept his eyebrows arched and his lips so tightly sealed while the shorter of the two had spoken, as well as his low humming during every pause, not a word said up until now. "No," Connor answered, also raising an eyebrow, his smile seeming to suddenly vanish from his lips, "he's just supportive. As far as I know, he's completely straight and likes a girl in year eleven who comes to the group."

Even this response didn't lift the darker-haired male's mood or diminish his concerns. "He just sounds really insistent to get those assemblies started. Plus, you said you two have been spending a lot of time together to try and sort them out, which includes talking about you being gay."

"Yeah? Well, if we're going to be educating the whole school, we want the majority of what we say to be true, so we have to talk about some things," the paler boy explained, his own mood darkening, "what does that have to do with anything?"