“Your sixth form yearbook,” he said, placing it on Jared’s knee.
Jared slowly took in the gold emblem, the year, and the name of the school he had gone to. He guessed it was the second one; the one he hadn’t been thrown out of. He held his breath as his father flipped through the book to a whole year photo. Sure enough, he was there. Jag wasn’t, but he hadn’t expected him to be. He listened as his father pointed out a few faces and told him some names, none of which resonated with him in any way.
“And none of them visited… after…?”
“You all went to different universities and lost touch,” his father said. “It happens.”
“Did I have a best friend? Someone I spent more time with than the others? Maybe even a boyfriend?”
“No,” his mother said flatly. “No boyfriends.”
“What about Jeremy?” Bianca asked in a dreamy voice from the hallway.
“Bianca!” his mother scolded. “You shouldn’t be listening in.”
“Clearly, I should.” She strode back into the room and leant over the sofa behind Jared, clasping her hands over his chest. “You werein lovewith Jeremy,” she drew out the word ‘love’. “There were lots of tears over him.”
“Jeremy?” Jared asked, putting on his best bewildered voice. “You didn’t point him out in the photo.”
He hated the deception. Just because his parents had kept things from him didn’t make what he was doing right, but he wasn’t sure what else to do, and thanks to Bianca, he was getting somewhere faster than he’d expected. Apparently, mouthy younger sisters were useful.
“He didn’t go to that school,” his mother said weakly. “You’d already stopped being friends by that point.”
“Why?”
“You had to leave the best private school in Surrey because of him,” Bianca said nonchalantly.
“What? Why?” Jared looked to his parents for the answers rather than his sister.
His mother’s eyes had become watery. She clamped her lips together and remained stoically silent. His father returned to the drawer he’d looked through before. After a significantly longer amount of time, he returned with a couple of photos.
“Why did you keep those?” Jared’s mother hissed.
His father ignored her and gave them to Jared. Both photos were of him and Jag. Younger and very happy. In one of the photos, they were holding hands. They were both in a smart school uniform, with grey jumpers and trousers, smart bottle-green blazers, and a very different logo to the one on the yearbook. Jared felt Kyrone stiffen beside him. He reached for his boyfriend’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. The photo brought back no memories. There was no twinge of longing in his heart.
“His parents were deeply homophobic,” his father explained. “We knew you liked each other, but you had to keep it a secret in front of his parents. Unfortunately, you weren’t careful enough. A teacher caught you kissing each other at school, and his parents were told.”
“What kind of school kicks a kid out for kissing someone of the same sex?” Kyrone asked in a pissed-off voice.
“One that enjoys the money it gets from its richest donors,” Jared’s father said with a sigh. “Jeremy’s parents were rich and influential. Either you left the school, or their money did.”
“That sucks,” Kyrone muttered.
“Yes,” Jared’s father agreed. “But honestly, when it was put to us like that, we were glad to take Jared away from the school and send him somewhere more tolerant.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Jared asked quietly.
“We didn’t want to upset you,” his father said.
“The Gale family were poisonous,” his mother hissed. “Jeremy was a nice boy, but his parents were the exact opposite. Oh, they were perfect in public—his mother’s a doctor on television—but they were vicious and vindictive behind closed doors. Even before the two of you were caught kissing, they were sending poor Jeremy for ‘therapy’.” Her voice twisted into a disgusted snarl over the final word.
“Therapy?” Jared knew what she meant, but hearing Jag’s story confirmed by her made it sickeningly real. It was no longer the ravings of a paranoid man, but the truth.
“Conversion therapy,” his father explained in a much calmer but no less repulsed tone. “To stop him from having feelings about other boys.”
A shiver ran through Jared, and a small gasp escaped him. Kyrone held him tighter.
“See,” his mother said, almost ranting now. “Finding this out ishurtingyou. This is why we didn’t want to tell you.”
