Take Me to Church (boyxboyxboy)✅

Chapter 17

Jeremy

Almost a year ago, Bobby was killed and the anniversary of his death hit the Sawyer household pretty hard. My mother tried to put on a happy face, but I knew she was torn apart inside. My father didn't hide it as well. His eyes were red and raw like he had been crying. He'd never admit to crying since he was the man of the house and he was the type who said "men don't cry," which we all knew was bull shit.

My sisters and Brandon knew things were bad when the house was quiet, especially at dinner. My sisters stopped bickering and Brandon was afraid to speak, afraid of getting barked at by both parents. To make matters worse, school was almost unbearable. It was like I was a ghost.

I missed Bobby as much as everyone else. There was no one like him. Bobby and I were very different. He was more of an extrovert with lots and lots of friends, from both the neighborhood and school and he always had a steady girlfriend. I was more introverted with very few friends, a follower instead of a leader.

And I never had a girlfriend. Why? Because I was gay, but only Liam and Nick knew that for sure. I denied it to everyone else. I wish I was more like Nick. I wished I had the guts to tell my parents. I decided to wait until next month or maybe after Christmas or maybe even after the New Year to tell them.

Before I left for school, my mother made the worst mistake. She called me Bobby, but I didn't have the heart to correct her. By the time I got to school, I was in a foul mood like I was about to kill somebody. I knew any little thing would set me off.

Hardly anyone on the team talked to me anymore. Even the few I thought would have the guts to talk to me didn't. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, living in fear of a sudden attack. There was no reason why anybody should be afraid in their school. I hated it.

To keep a low profile, I kept my mouth shut, doing my best to just blend in, which was hard to do since I was the boy with the football scholarship, the boy from Dorchester who took the train to and from school everyday, and the boy whose newest best friends happened to be gay. While Liam never announced he was gay to anyone in the school, a lot of boys assumed he was.

Any day now I expected JT to do something to me with one of his pranks or dares. I was just waiting...

Today was the day.

As I went to open my locker, at first I thought that maybe I had forgotten the combination, then I thought maybe it was just jammed shut. After a few minutes, with childish snickers in the hallway, I realized someone had superglued it shut. In retrospect, it was pretty impressive how they did that, but at the time I was more than pissed.

"Which one of you fuckers did this?" I shouted, proceeding to kick the locker over and over like that would do any good.

Boys gasped as if they hadn't heard the f-word before. Just about losing my mind, I kicked and pounded it as everyone stared. I kicked the door so hard my foot actually hurt. Liam pulled me away from my locker just as Principal Dewitt showed up.  

"I bet Bobby's rolling in his grave knowing his brother's a fag," someone muttered, but loud enough for me to hear. Nick joined Liam in restraining me as I was about to attack each and everyone of the boys in the hallway.

"Don't you ever mention Bobby's name ever again, you hear me?" I shouted. "Never!"

"Hey, cool it," Nick said. Even he couldn't calm me down.

"Mother fucking assholes...I could kill you..."

"Hey..." Nick said while Liam stood in front of me, protecting me (or them) from an attack.