• "Have a nice day, hon." my mom calls out to me. I cringe as I slam the door and sling my backpack over one shoulder. Why wasn't she more like my dad who couldn't give a s**t about how my day goes? It would make it easier for her to deal with the fact that I don't have many friends and a very unsocial life. I guess there is just no getting around the fact that in truth I am a social outcast along with my best friend, Alexander. I continue to brood in this manner as I begin to cross the courtyard that leads to the stone steps of my high school. There is lush grass that surounds the whole front part of the school and decent sized oak trees that sprout randomly in the small field of green. The lack of students on the lawn idicates that I am fairly late and have only about ten minutes to go my locker and get to class.
    I continue to walk on the grass by a tree and for some reason I get the sense that I'm being watched. I stand under a tree and look around but no one's around so I look at the front of the school only to find that all the windows' curtains are shut and there is a lack of the presense of anyone by the doors. I shrug and just as I am about to continue my walk to the doors, a mysterious figure lands lightly upon the grass in front of me. I let out a blood curdling shriek and stumble backwards, nearly falling. Then I hear a chuckle and I look up to see noneother than Christofer Drew standing before me, his dirty blond hair falling delicatly over his hazel eyes and a single leaf caught in his hair. "What the ******** hell?" I shout at him, seething with rage. He merely shrugs and turns on his heel after saying "I suppose I should apologize for scaring you but I shall save that for another occasion." Then he dissapears through the doors and I am left standing like an idiot in the grass. God! I hated him! His stupid arrogance and the lack of emotion he displayed at times was enough to grate on even a saint's nerves.
    I recovered and walk into the school and straight to my locker. When I reached my locker I find Alex waiting for me as always. I tried to put on a fake aura of contentment but as soon as I had turned the combination into the lock, Alex had been able to see through my pretense. "You don't seem like yourself this morning." he noted, absently staring at the groups of people heading to their classes in a bit of a rush. "Hmm... Dunno what you mean I am perfectly fine." I replied cooly. Luckily my voice didn't crack as I smoothly pulled out a text book and a binder out of my locker. "What did Chris do this time?" he continued to pry. "Do you mean Chris Bravo? No he didn't do a thing." I said mentioning the name of our (literally) little friend. "Don't start playing dumb with me, Donnie." Alex said, finally exhasperated "You know I mean Christofer Drew. Now what did he do this time?" I shrugged and countered his question with another question "What does the ******** b*****d do to me every chance he gets?" Alex nodded but asked again "What did he do?" I mentally cussed him out for being so damn observant this morning. "He scared me shitless by jumping out of a tree and landing right in front of me. He didn't even bother apologizing." I said slaming my locker with such force that I caused the two lockeres next to mine to quiver violently. Alex cocked his head to the side as if he expected to hear more. "Is that all? I was knid of expecting there to be more to the encounter. That's not as bad as when he tripped you and you fell and got a nose bleed or the time when he jumped you in the cafferteria, so what's all the fuss about?."
    I glared at him. "What?" he asked, nonchalantly picking up his supplies off the floor and beginning to walk away but I soon caught up with him. "Are you trying to imply something?" I asked, utter confused but that could just be the effects of my being angry. "No of coarse not!" Alex said with a tone of perfectly practiced flowing sarcasm. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at him for a moment unsure of what he was trying to tell me until it all hit me in a wave of understanding. "Are- are you implying that Christofer and I l-like each other?" I managed to choke out finally. Alex just looked at me and shrugged as if it didn't matter anymore. "Quite frankly I just said what you wanted to hear and you made what you wished of it. So technically you just implied that there is a possibility that you could like him and he could like you. Now let's get to class because I am so not serving detention with your constantly late a**." He said grabbing my arm and dragging me to our next class.


    "Hey, you guys." Krispy (a.k.a. Chris Bravo) greets us on our way to lunch. Four things you should know about Krispy:
    1) He is NOT gay (I am).
    2) He is NOT bi (Alex is).
    3) He's kinda short (5' to be exact) but really funny.
    4) He is the only straight person in this school who is actually our friend.
    "Hey, Krispy." I say. "Wassup, Lil' Man?" Alex says, high-fiving him. "What's up?" he asks us as we walk down the hall. "Oh y'know, the usual; this ******** genius," Alex points to me, "has managed to land us in detention with Mrs. Lee, our science teacher, because we were late- again." Krispy laughs and asks "Why were you late this time?" "Stupid Christofer Drew." I murmur. Krispy nods knowly "Oh him? He's just a boy who doesn't really want to make it obvious that he's gay." He says as we step out into the courtyard- we always skip lunch.
    Me and Alex both stopped and stared at him as if he just said he was gay. "What do you mean?" I asked, utterly confused for the second- and hopefully last- time today. "Isn't it obvious? The way he acts towards Donnie is more teasing than it is meant for any harm. Not to mention the fact that he rarely hangs out with anyone of the opposite sex, let alone dates anyone. Think about it." he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. But I did think about it; it turns out that if you really do think about things you can realize things you never noticed before. "Well, you're being very observant today aren't you?" I ask sarcasticlly. He just shrugs and looks at us as if he's waiting for us to say something. "Anyway..." he trails off nonchalantly.


    "So. sweety, how was your day today?" my mom asks me as we eat dinner. "Eh. It was alright." I say, not really looking at her but at the plate of food in front of her. "That's it?" she pries in her motherly sing-song voice. "Yeah, Mom, that's it." "How's Alex? Is he alright?" She continues, which tends to get annoying because she's been acting like this ever since we found out I was gay. "Jennifer, stop asking the boy questions about his queer friends." My father says, angrily chewing on a piece of steak (I say father because calling him a dad would make it seem as if he really cared about my life). "What? Now my friends don't matter to you either?" I ask, venom coating every word as it leaves my morth. My father looks as if I just slapped him but he quickly recovers. His face is now distorted into a grim smile, with no affection in his eyes. "You dare mouth off to me?" He asks, raising one eyebrow to show his disbelief. I look at him with pure hatred in my eyes while replying in an icy tone "You call me a queer, you call me a f** and I put up with all that s**t but when it comes to my friends it's different. You have no damn right in ******** hell to say anything about my friends!" I begin to breathe heavily in complete rage.
    "You son of a b***h." my father whispers in surprise and confusion. "Clam down, Richard, please." my mom says, putting her hand lightly on his arm in an affectionate manner. He slaps her and says "It's your fault that he's like this! You allow him to be like this! You little-" That was enough to make me snap. My mom was the only person in this household who still cared about me- even after we foud out I was gay.
    I lunged at him. Even though i was thin and didn't have much muscle, I managed to tackle him to the ground because he had been distaracted by my mother's defending me. I begin to punch aimlessly but he wards off every blow. With one good punch in the stomach from him, I go flying and hit my head on the table. I groan and my father laughs, saying "Did you honestly think you could hurt me that easily?" My only response is silence because I am in too much pain to respond. "You cannot truely fit in in the world because you're gay. Now drag your happy a** to your room so I can deal with my wife." He says this with hatred towards me and my mom.
    I struggle to stand up and when i do I say in the strongest voice I could muster "Don't you dare hurt her. If you so much as lay a hand on her..." "You'll do what? Go crying to your little friends? Oh! I'm so scared. Just go to your room Donnie." he said. Again, I lunged at him- this time more weakly- but this time he was ready. He rammed his fist into my stomach and I was thrown backwards once more. This time I landed in my mom's arms. "Donnie, I want you to listen to me." she said, hugging me as I coughed up some blood. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and nodded once. "I want you to go to your room like your father said." I imediatly shook my head and said "No. Not without you."
    "I can handle your father but you need to do what he says. Please, for me?" she whispers, her breathe tickling my ear. "I-I can't." I whisper back. "You must." "Fine... Mom?" "Yes, sweetie?" "I love you..." I murmur. "I love you too- soo much. Now go to your room- for me, not your father." she says, giving me one last squeeze before releasing me.
    I manage to stumble my way up the stairs. When I look down I see a single tear roll down my mom's cheek. I know she is going to have to pay for what I did when I spoke up against my father. I think the last word with a new found hatred. I wanted him to disappear and leave my mom alone- I think I wanted him to die and land himself in the pits of hell. I swore to myself right then that I would one day show him up for everything he put me and my mom through.
    After some silence I decided it would be best if I just lay in bed with my door locked. I lay in bed and hear the sound of glass breaking. If I wake up tomorrow and find my mom with so much as a bruise he will find himself in an empty house. Without realizing it, tears begin to well up in my eyes and I find that laying down is not an option. I decide to sit on my window sill where I always have a perfect view of the moon. I look up and see that it is a full moon. Such a pretty night yet such horrible events. I soon end up crying myself to sleep. How I can tell? I can feel all of reality just slip away...