A/N: I actually feel bad for Zac in this and the last chapter.. Anyways here we gooo
Zac's POV
I wake up in the morning, absolutely dreading going to school. Everyone probably knows by now. Mikell is really popular and I know he can spread gossip fast. Especially about two gay guys in a severely homophobic school.
Maybe no one believes it.
Maybe no one cares.
Maybe no one knows who we are, so they won't give us a hard time.
Yeah, right.
After going through my normal morning routine, I trudge through my front door and get on my way to hell. Or school. I really could never tell the difference anyways.
When I approach the school, I walk past the groups of people that usually hang out outside of the school in the mornings. Thankfully, I don't see Mikell. But judging by the looks that people are giving me, I'm guessing Mikell already told them about me and Kyle. Great. Now I'm unwillingly out to my whole school. And so is Kyle. I hope Kyle's okay. I mean, he's relatively new here, so maybe no one really knows him enough to give him a hard time. Me, on the other hand, I've been going to school with these people for years. Some even since I was five. And Mikell was one of those people.
I push open the doors and feel what little confidence I've ever had just shrivel up and die. Now, not only will I not have friends, but everyone will hate me. God, this is all my fault.
As I enter the school, nothing really happens to me. I expected some hateful glares, or name calling, or to be immediately beat up, but there was nothing. That is until I noticed the giant crowd of people across the cafeteria. People were screaming and cheering, trying to see everything that was happening.
Usually, I'm not very interested in seeing the fights at school. They're always between two annoying chavs about something stupid. This crowd of people, however, was the biggest crowd I've seen for a fight yet, so naturally, it catches my interest and I walk towards it. I soon realize that there's no way I'd ever see over all these people, so I turn and start to walk away. I'll probably hear all about it later anyways. As I walk away, I hear a kid shout into the crowd.
"Give the faggot what he deserves!"
I stop and turn around, realization hitting me like a brick.
Kyle's in there.
I don't know how, but I gather up all of the strength that I have, and start shoving through the crowd, yelling at people to move. Slowly, I get closer and closer to the center. Over everyone's cheers, I can hear Mikell spitting out insults and laughing after each one. Finally, I make it to the middle and I see Kyle pushed up against a wall. He's being held by the two idiots, Danny and Jakob, while Mikell beats on him.
"Hey Mikell. Look what we got over here." Jakob says, nodding my way. Mikell turns around and smiles, ready to attack.
"Well well well." Mikell starts. "If it isn't the other little-"
I punched him.
Square in the nose.
Everyone turned dead silent as Mikell stumbled back. Jakob and Danny dropped Kyle out of shock.
"Kyle, run!" I shout. Just I shout, the cheers are back on.
Kyle runs past the people, who try to push him back in, but he finally gets past. Looks like I'm getting beat up again. Not that I mind much. As long as it's not Kyle, I don't care. That's why I'm getting beat up for him again. That's why I keep telling him to run. Because he shouldn't be hurt. He doesn't deserve it. And, in a way, I do. I deserve it for accidentally outing us. I kissed him in the bathroom. Someone was bound to walk in. It just so happened to be Mikell. So, not only am I saving Kyle from getting hurt, but I'm also giving myself what I deserve for doing this to Kyle.
Suddenly, Mikell charges at me and slams me into the wall. The same wall Kyle was against just moments ago. Mikell punches me in the nose multiple times as he shouts at me. I can't tell what he's saying though. The ringing in my ears is too loud to hear him. Mikell forcefully brings his knee up to my stomach and I hunch over in pain, gasping for air. He keeps beating on me mercilessly for probably about five minutes. He finally gets bored at my lack of response, so he drops me on the floor and just walks off casually. The crowd disperses and no one checks to see if I'm okay.
In my, once again, half conscious state, I stay on the floor, leaning against the wall. I'm so out of it, I can hardly hear the bell ring, signaling the start of first period. The adrenaline is starting to wear off, so now I can feel the pain. My nose hurts the most, followed by my stomach. My nose throbs and is gushing blood. My stomach makes me feel as if I'm about to vomit, which is just what I do. My stomach hurts even worse with every heave as I get sick on the floor. When I'm done, I feel a warm hand on my shoulder and a hear soft voice in my ear.
"Come on, Zac. Everything's okay." It sounds a lot like Kyle. I'm pretty sure it is, considering no one else would ever think of helping me right now.
He carefully helps me up and slings my arm around his shoulders. He supports most of my weight as we start heading towards the bathroom.
"Kyle." I manage to say. "Nurse." I whisper.
Kyle walked us to the nurse and sat us down on the examination bed. I grabbed his hand and he soothingly rubbed my back with his free hand. No need hiding our relationship now that everyone knows about it. Kyle takes a tissue and dabs at my nose lightly. I finch when he puts pressure on it.
"Sorry." He mumbles.
I look up and see his face for the first time since I told him to run. His nose was also bleeding, but not as bad as mine. His hair was pretty messed up and his expression read of concentration and worry.
"I'm sorry this is happening." I say when I'm finally able to form complete sentences. I still feel a bit dizzy and out of it though.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." Kyle replies. "But I feel really bad that you got beat up over me twice."
"I don't want you hurt. Why else do you think I keep making you leave?"
"I guess." Kyle said, defeated.
Just then, the nurse, Mrs. Mandel, came up to us. She wasn't the stereotypical school nurse. She was fairly young and pretty. I've only come to the nurse's office once, but from what I remember, she's nice.
"Oh goodness." She says. "What happened?"
"Um there was a fight and we got caught up in it." Kyle said, not wanting to say that we got beat up.
"Oh I see." She looked at our entwined hands. "Are you two together?"
"Yeah." I answered, quietly.
She nods and starts cleaning Kyle's nose.
"It gets better. I know from personal experience." She smiles. I look at her quizzically. "My girlfriend and I got bullied a lot in school. We got through it though. We're married now and have been for five years."
"That's great." Kyle said, liking the fact that there was a happy story for him to hear.
Mrs. Mandel finished up Kyle's nose, making sure it was fine.
"Your nose is okay, so you could probably head back to class." She says to Kyle. "However, you can just stay down here for the rest of the period and it'll be our little secret." She smiles.
"Thank you." Kyle smiles back.
She then starts cleaning up my nose and presses on it, making me wince at the pain.
"You're lucky." She says, looking at my nose and handing me an ice pack that I right away press to my nose. "One more hit and your nose would be broken for sure."
"Also, I got it pretty bad on my ribs. Could you take a look and make sure nothing's broken?" I ask, genuinely worried that I cracked a rib.
"Sure. Lay down."
I do as I'm told and lay down. Kyle takes the seat next to the bed, making sure that my hand doesn't leave his. Mrs. Mandel lifts up my shirt and examines my ribcage. She presses down at certain areas, making me cringe.
"Well, nothing's broken, but you're going to be really sore. You already have a fair amount of bruising and you're bleeding a bit."
She gets some wipes and cleans off the blood. I look up at Kyle to see him looking at my chest with a sad expression on his face. When he sees me looking at him, he gives me the saddest smile I've ever seen. He gently kisses my hand and I blush. Mrs. Mandel puts on a bandage after the wound is clean. I hand her the ice pack as she stands up.
"There. All done. Now, you two can just relax for the period. I'll send a message up to your teachers. Who do you have?"
"We both have Mrs. Gertrude." I answer.
"Okay. I'll be in my office if you need anything."
"Thank you." Kyle and I say in unison.
For the first few minutes, neither of us say anything. I lay there with my eyes closed and my hand in Kyle's. I feel the need to be closer to him, so I sit up and pat the space beside me. Kyle sits next to me and puts an arm around my waist, bringing me closer. I rest my head on his shoulder and put my hand on his thigh, drumming my fingers in a steady rhythm.
"You don't need to keep doing that for me, Zac." Kyle says, not giving up his argument. "You know, getting hurt."
"Kyle, why won't you listen to me? I'm just trying to protect you."
"You don't need to."
"Yes I do. I promised I would. I can't stand to see you hurt. And I don't want this school to become like your last."
"It'll be like that wherever I go. You don't need to get hurt too."
"Kyle, if you haven't realized already, you and I are a couple. A duo. A team. You and I are in this shit together. And I'll be damned if I leave you alone in this mess."
To this, Kyle hugs me tighter and plants a kiss on my lips. The kiss doesn't last very long, considering we're in a nurse's office, but I could still feel all the meaning behind that short action.
"I wish I could just show you how much that means to me." Kyle says, hugging me once more. "No one has ever stuck with me. No one I've ever met would even think about getting hurt for me. Anyone else would just leave me on my own, not trying to protect me."
"I care about you more than anyone else has. I'd do anything for you."
We sat there, embracing on the examination bed, sneaking kisses every so often. When the bell rang a while later, Kyle looked absolutely terrified. After we stood up, I grabbed his hands and looked him in the eyes.
"Kyle, if anyone says anything to you, just ignore them. They won't do anything physical since there's a teacher in the room. If you really need me, text me. When the bell rings, I'll be waiting for you right outside of your classroom, making sure you don't get hurt."
"Okay." Kyle nods, his hair flopping in front of his eyes slightly.
"Oh, and Kyle?"
"Hm?" He mumbles. I peck his pink lips quickly.
"You look beautiful today."