Kiss Me Slowly

Chapter 16: The History

Chapter 16: The History

I opened my eyes and blinked from the brightness. When I took a deep breath, I winced. My hand flew to my stomach. I blinked again and looked around.

Was I in a hospital? I tried to sit up, but my stomach muscles were hurting too much. I groaned.

"Ethan?"

I looked around and found four worried faces looking down at me.

"What—what happened?" I asked, my voice scratchy, slowly sitting up.

"I don't know." Jackie said. "I had forgotten my book from the school, and when I went in the building, you were curled on the floor unconscious with no one else around." She glanced at my torso worriedly. "Are you ok?"

I swallowed. "I—I don't know." I frowned and thought. Then I remembered. "Jordan."

"Who?" Jeremy asked.

"Jordan. And the rest of the football team." I said, holding my hand to my head. "T-they were mad, and t-then started—"

"Ethan, take deep breaths." Denny ordered. I nodded and took a deep breath. "Tell us what happened."

"I was about to go home, b-but then the principle called me to the office." I started. "Mr. Rogers told me he wanted me to be in charge of the party. And I was leaving, but then I ran into the team, and they didn't want me t-to be in charge, so they told me to step down. I-I told them it wasn't my choice, b-but they wouldn't listen. T-then they started t-throwing insults around a-and using the word fag and then they..." I swallowed the lump in my throat.

I've heard the word used before. I'd been targeted because I was pans. But this time, it hit hard.

Maybe because there was a crowd, or maybe because Collin was always nice to me, or maybe because he didn't target just me that I was more emotional this time around.

I couldn't get any of their faces out of my head. The way they looked at me.

Tears sprung to my eyes. I quickly wiped them away.

"What did they do?" Denny asked softly.

"T-they punched and kicked me." I finished. Kenny's nostrils flared, Jeremy gasped, Denny nodded, and Jackie stood and walked to an empty chair. She kicked it.

"I am going to kill them." She scowled.

"Jackie, calm down." Denny said. "It's very distressful, but the only thing we can do is go to the school."

"No!" I almost shouted. All eyes turned to me.

"Ethan—"

"I-I mean if I went to the school, then Mr. Rogers would think I wouldn't be able to do my job. A-and Jordan and the others would think of me as weak and keep hurting me and—"

"If we go to the school, they'd be suspended." Denny corrected. "And get into more trouble if they did it again. That's not weakness. And your principle thinks you are the most capable for the job, otherwise, he wouldn't have put you to it to begin with."

"T-there's already so many rumors floating around, a-and doing this, no one will go to the party. Most won't anyway. A-and with Jordan outing me—"

"Ethan, I know what it's like." Denny interrupted. "It happened to me. In high school, no one knew. I was captain of the soccer team. I had good grades, and practically everybody liked me.

"Then one day, I shared a kiss with a guy and he told everyone. I lost my captain name, I lost the respect, and it disturbed my grades. But I knew that what they thought didn't affect me. So I finished school, I went to college and followed my dream.