Chapter Twenty
Adam loved waking up beside Ru, though Ru was a bit of a bear in the morning. He’d groaned and grumbled while Adam had gotten up, showered, and made himself presentable for the school day. They hadn’t used the care package his parents had left for him, which was, embarrassingly enough, a box of condoms and a bottle of lube. Adam wasn’t sure of all the details as to how they were used, but he wasn’t going to ask either. He’d just stuffed them into his bag and gotten into the car.
Ru did accompany Adam to school, in his pajamas, which made Adam laugh. Before Adam got out of the car, Ru rewarded him with a kiss and promised to be waiting for him after school.
Despite the events of yesterday, Adam was hopeful. Maybe school wouldn’t be so bad. He made his way inside, praying quietly that maybe, just maybe, the storm would pass with little to no rain. By the time he reached his locker, he knew there would be no such luck. His locker was covered in pink paint, the words unmistakable: fag, faggot, perv, fairy.
Adam sighed.
Bas appeared a minute later with a slew of teachers and the principal. Adam blinked at him as they all headed to his locker. Principal O’Brien frowned at the mess but turned Adam’s way.
“What’s your combination, Corbin?”
“Um, 12, 34, 18, 9,” Adam told him.
O’Brien opened his locker and began pulling books out. Slips of paper fell around their feet. Notes. Adam gulped. He’d been out less than twenty-four hours, and he was already getting hate mail slipped into his locker?
“Am I going somewhere?” he asked, since the teachers were holding his books.
“Your locker is being moved next to Axelrod’s, which is right next to the teacher’s lounge and has cameras on it 24/7. Anyone else who would like tovandalize school property,” O’Brien said, glaring at the students who were gathered in the hallway, “will get the full penalty, which is expulsion.”
Everyone suddenly seemed very interested in getting to class. Adam followed O’Brien to his new locker and got the combination before getting help to rearrange everything. He even got a tardy pass for his first class. Principal O’Brien walked him to that class through empty hallways. “Now, Corbin, I don’t want you to think that you’re going to get any special privileges.”
“I wouldn’t expect any, sir. I’ve been gay my whole life. The only thing different is that everyone knows.”
“Northern has a no-tolerance policy when it comes to bullying. Anyone slips you a note or says something to you on the way to the bathroom, you come to me.”
Adam blinked at him. “Does it happen to Bas a lot?”
O’Brien frowned. “Unfortunately, yes. Now I assume you’ve spoken with your parents about this?”
“You mean about me being gay?”
“Yes.”
“I have.”
“Good. Now I recommend if you need to use the restroom, use the one near the faculty lounge. Not all of the kids care if they graduate or not.” With that, he left, and Adam wondered just how much help they would really be if something happened. He sucked in a deep breath and made his way into class. Once he handed off his tardy pass to the teacher, he sat in an open seat, quickly assessing it to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with. He could already feel the eyes on him and suspected it would only get worse as the day went on.
By lunchtime Adam was about ready to walk out. Only running into Bas’s smiling face and, a few minutes later, an encouraging text from Ru kept him from just sitting down in the corner to cry. He’d had things thrown at him, mostly paper and insults. He’d been shoved into the lockers more times than he could count and even had one of his teachers ignore him completely in class.
He didn’t even try to sit at his normal table with Nate and the mash of other random jocks. Instead he found a place in the corner, so he could have his back to the wall and keep an eye out for anyone who approached. Bas chattered away next to him like all was normal with the world.
“Don’t let them get to you, sweetie,” Bas said.
But every time Adam looked up, he caught people staring and pointing. How awful. He’d never felt so exposed or judged. Why did it matter to them? Nothing about him had changed from yesterday when they were all smiling and greeting him like he was their friend.
He choked down half his sandwich, but couldn’t take it anymore. He bolted from the table and made his way outside and around to the parking lot, hitting Ru’s number on speed dial.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” Ru asked when he picked up the phone.
“On lunch break” was all Adam could say. He missed the sound of Ru’s voice so much.
“How is it? Are they treating you bad?”
Adam had to breathe deeply for a minute or so before he could answer without bursting into the tears he was fighting. “Yeah.”
“I’d come get you, but I think your parents would get mad.”
