That made my blood boil. Just as I was about to take a step toward him, Rory and Tab both put hands on my shoulders, holding me back. However, this didn’t stop Danny from moving forward. I glanced behind us and was more than surprised to see that several of my classmates had inched closer to us.
“No, I’m just not a gigantic fuck wad like you,” Danny replied.
“Fuck you!” Hunter spat.
“Pretty sure that you can’t pay me to do that,” Rory said.
I noticed that he finally took his hand off my shoulder and seconds later, so did Tab. Neither one of them moved from my side, however. Hunter’s face was bright red and his hands were balled into fists at his sides.
“You better watch yourself,” Hunter barked. “Everyone knows now.”
“That was kind of the point,” I said. I surprised myself at how confident I sounded, despite the fact it was taking all my energy not to either throw up or piss my pants. “I mean, I put it out there so that everyone would know. It’s not like I’m trying to hide it anymore.”
“You should have, though.”
That comment came from Brian Mackey, another football player and typical stooge of Hunter.
“He shouldn’t have to,” barked back someone from behind us.
I turned around to see who was talking. It was Luke Collins, a soccer player. He was usually pretty soft spoken, and he had the pleasure of being Hunter’s target a time or to. Luke continued walking forward so that he was standing next to Danny. I looked nervously around the hallway, which was now packed with students. There was a weird tension filling the atmosphere, which only keep building by the moment.
“So, the lawn fairies are defending him now, too?”
I glanced over at Luke and saw that he was standing there with his arms crossed. They might not have been as muscular as Hunter or Brian’s, but they were lean and powerful looking. I had no doubt that getting punched by him would do some serious damage. Plus, I’d seen the guy kick a soccer ball. You wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that either.
“You’re being a dick Hunter,” Rory said. “Stop it and walk away before you can’t anymore.”
“Are you threatening me?” Hunter asked. He sneered and took a few steps toward us. Brian and several of the football players followed suit. “Because it sounds like you’re threatening me.”
I swallowed hard and felt my mouth go dry.
“Not threatening,” Rory said calmly. “Just stating the facts. You know this school as a no bullying policy and I’d say that you pretty much crossed that line when you called him a faggot.”
Hunter took a step back and held open his arms in a very taunting manner. He also had a shit eating grin on his face that I was itching to knock off. “And you can never prove that I said anything like that.”
“Blow me, Hunter,” Danny barked. He turned to the crowd as Hunter and his gang started to walk away. “And what are you all standing here for? No one’s going to fight, so move along.”
“Thanks,” I said, turning to Luke. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I did,” Luke said. He took a deep breath. “I have a cousin that’s trans. He’s always telling me that no one stands up for people who are different. You have. That’s important. And don’t worry, Rory, you totally have the soccer team’s vote.”
“Thanks,” Rory said.
“Don’t mention it.”
Luke turned and jogged off, leaving the four of us standing there.
“Fuckwad,” Danny muttered. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I said. I forced myself to take several deep breaths. “Totally fine.”
We continued down the hallway and around the corner. Just when I thought things might calm down for the day, I saw a crowd gathered around the vicinity of my locker. I looked at Rory and Tab and before I knew what was happening, they marched forward, parting the ring of students like they were some sort of biblical heroes.
I wished they hadn’t. As my classmates moved away from the lockers, my stomach dropped. I broke out in a cold sweat. Scrolled across my locker, in big black letters, was the word faggot. I felt like I was going to throw up on the spot. My stomach felt like it had turned inside out.
I bolted away from my locker as fast as my legs would carry me. I could hear the laughing, I could see everyone point at me. I must have tuned out Rory and Tab yelling after me because the next thing I knew, I burst through the door to the boys bathroom, threw open a stall door, and proceeded to puke my guts out.
Rory and Tab burst into the bathroom seconds later, followed closely by Danny.
“What should I so?” Danny asked nervously.
“Door,” Rory snapped as he knelt down next to me. “And punch any asshat that tries to get in here.”
“I can do that,” Danny said with a nod.
“I’m gonna go get the principal,” Tab said.
“Luke’s already on his way,” Rory told him. “Henry? Look at me, man.”
I heaved again, emptying the rest of my breakfast into the toilet. I squeezed my eyes shut, but every time I did, I saw the word faggot scrolled across my locker in big block letters. I was so stupid to think that I could do this. I should have left well enough alone. My stomach clenched and contorted, forcing me to dry heaved again. Sweat poured down my brow and tears streamed down my face.
I was fucking ugly crying in the middle of the boys’ bathroom in front of my crush and my two best friends. I wasn’t a fucking hero. Heroes don’t have their heads in a toilet. I wasn’t brave, I was stupid. I was an idiot to think that putting myself out there wouldn’t result in something like this. Another round of dry heaves worked their way through me.
“Henry, you need to relax, man,” Rory said softly. “Take some deep breaths and relax.”
I couldn’t, though. All I could imagine was the words on my locker. I shuddered to think what Davis was going through. I shouldn’t have done it. I had ruined my life and his life now. That thought brought on a fresh surge of tears and sniffling.
“Come on, man,” Tab said. He gently pulled me away from the toilet. “Come on, just relax.”
I collapsed backwards into Tab’s arms. I couldn’t stop crying ugly, wailing sobs that made it sound like someone had just died. And I became acutely aware of the fact that I was wrapped in Tab’s arms on the floor of the boys’ bathroom. He was going to catch so much shit for this later. Rory sat next to us and put an arm around each of us.
I started shaking so much you’d think that I was on the verge of catching hypothermia.
“Henry, we got you.”
“Teachers are coming,” Danny said from the doorway. “And Mendoza looks pissed as hell.”
“I’m sorry,” I sobbed repeatedly. “I’m so sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Tab said. I noticed that his grip on me hadn’t relaxed in the slightest. “We got you, remember?”
“You’re hugging your crying friend on the floor of the boys’ bathroom,” I said between sobs. “You’re going to get made fun of for this.”
“Fuck them,” Rory said. He moved so that he was kneeling in front of us and leaned forward so that his forehead was touching mine. “We got you.”
“It was stupid. The whole idea.”
“We got you,” Tab repeated, his voice thick with emotion.
“It wasn’t stupid,” Rory said, shaking his head. “It was brave, one of the bravest things that I have ever seen anyone do.”
“No, it was dumb–”
“It wasn’t dumb,” Tab insisted, giving me a squeeze. “Those assholes that painted that on your locker are dumb.”
“I’m coming in!” Ms. Mendoza yelled from the doorway.
I tried to stop shaking and crying, although I was only partially successful. She burst into the room, looking around to see who was present. I could see her blinking back tears as she knelt next to me.
“Henry, are you okay?”
“That’s a dumb question,” R
ory snapped.
“You’re upset, so I’ll let that slide,” she said, shooting Rory an annoyed look. “Let’s get you up and to the office.”
“We’re going with him,” Danny insisted.
“You’re going back to class,” she said.
“Like hell we are,” Tab said.
Again, I noticed that Tab’s embrace on me hadn’t relaxed. She frowned and apparently thought better of arguing. That was probably for the better, considering the venomous stares that Rory and Tab had sent her way.
“Alright, I’m going to clear out the crowd outside.”
I took a deep, shuddering breath.
“Someone’s going to fucking pay for this,” Rory snapped. He stood up, reached down to take my hand, and help pull me back to my feet. “I swear, Henry, we’re going to find out who did this and kick their ass.”
“I bet it was Hunter,” Tab said as we stood up.
“Here,” Danny said, handing me a towel. “And if it was Hunter that did this, then he’s going to get his ass kicked by a lot of people.”
I shook my head. I didn’t need anyone else getting themselves into trouble over me and certainly not over a stupid stunt like this.
“Alright,” Ms. Mendoza said from outside the door. “The principal called your parents and they’re on their way in. Let’s head down to the office so we can talk to them.”
We walked out of the bathroom and I hung my head. I could feel Rory and Tab edge closer to me, despite the fact that the hallway had been pretty much cleared of every living soul. We arrived at the office a short time later, where, despite the protests of my friends, they were told to go back to class.
“Just don’t do anything stupid,” I warned Rory before he left.
“Hey, it’s me,” he said with a wink.
That did nothing to calm my nerves. They ushered me into Principal Yomada’s office. He was a short man with a pot belly, thinning hair, and a permanent frown plastered on his face. He rose from his desk as soon as we entered and quickly came over to put a hand on my shoulder.
“Henry, how are you doing?”
“Fine,” I lied.
“I’ve already called maintenance to come work on getting it off your locker,” Mr. Yomada said, returning to his side of the desk. “And your parents should be here soon.”
“Thank you.”
I took a seat opposite him and before I could say anything else, my father stormed into the room. My mother was hot on his heels and both looked pissed as all hell. I wanted to open my mouth to tell them that I was okay, but couldn’t before my mother wrapped in a giant hug. My dad turned to Principal Yomada, his voice full of barely contained anger.
“I need you to tell me what happened and just what you’re going to do about it?”
I had seen my parents upset before. However, the fury that was radiating off them was not something that I had ever even glimpsed. To be honest, it kind of terrified me. My father stood behind me, his hands on my shoulders as my mother took a seat next to me.
“Someone, we’re not sure who, decided to put a slur on his locker,” Yomada said. “We’ll be going through the security tapes to see if we can pin down the culprit.”
“And expel him, I hope,” my mother added.
“Mrs. Rawlins, I cannot comment on disciplinary actions involving other students.”
My father narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “We understand that, Mr. Yomada, but let me put this another way: my son was just a victim of a hate crime. You will take steps to ensure that this doesn’t happen again, not to him, and not to anyone else. If we feel that you aren’t handling it seriously, then I’ll make sure that the school board takes action.”
Yomada seemed to get flustered at my dad’s comments, although that hardly surprised me.
“You have my full assurance that we will get to the bottom of this,” he replied. I noticed that his voice quivered a little. “I can already promise you a more robust presence of our staff in the hallways so that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.”
“It better not,” my mother said. “Come on, Henry. We’re going home.”
I stood up and followed my parents out of the office and into the hallway. It was only once we were outside that I grabbed them both and started crying again. We stood there for a moment, all three of us crying very quiet tears.
“Are you okay?” my father asked as we resumed walking. “Did anyone threaten you? Lay a hand on you or anything?”
“No.” I sniffled. “Danny, Rory, Tab, and even Luke stood up for me, and judging by the looks on most kids’ faces, they were pretty disgusted by the message. But, I mean, I guess I didn’t really ever think that someone would do that.”
“People are assholes,” my father said as soon as we were outside. “If anyone sends you anything on your phone, you tell us right away. I’m also going to get in contact with Rory, Tab, and Danny’s parents.”
“I don’t think they’d be stupid enough to threaten them, too,” I said as we started across the parking lot.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” my mother said. She sighed. “As a parent, you never want to see your child hurt, especially not for just being who they are.”
“Meet you at home,” my father said. “And hang in there, Henry. You’re braver than you know. You’ll make it through this.”
“Thanks, dad.”
I climbed into my mother’s car and closed the door, happy to be away from the building. I texted Rory, Tab, and Danny to let them know that I was doing okay and that I’d be going home for the rest of the day. Rory and Tab were pretty adamant about stopping by after school to see how I was doing. It actually made me feel really loved and despite my shitty morning, made me smile. My mother noticed instantly.
“What’s going on?”
“Just Rory and Tab,” I answered. “They’re saying they’re going to stop by after school and if Cody so much as opens his mouth, he’ll apparently need a surgeon to remove Rory’s foot from his ass.”
My mother laughed and wiped away a few tears. “And you were worried that your friends wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“Maybe I was pretty stupid.” I huffed. “But you were both right, they’re amazing. Even Danny doesn’t seem to care.”
“Because they’re good kids,” she said as she put the car into gear. “How about a coffee on the way home? My treat.”
“Sure, that sounds good.”
We didn’t say much on the way to the coffee house. Even on the way home, our conversation was rather limited. But every time I looked over at her, I could see her wipe more tears away from her eyes. It made me cringe. I hated being the reason that either of my parents were upset, even though in this case I hadn’t really done anything wrong.
“I’m very sorry this happened to you,” she said as we pulled into our driveway. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?” I asked, unbuckling my seatbelt. “The fact that half the school seemed to be okay with watching someone put that all over my locker? The fact that my social media feeds are filling up with hate speech?”
The more I talked, the more the feelings of anger started to build. I didn’t deserve this. I was just trying to do the right thing and this was the response I got. I flung the car door open and got out before slamming it shut behind me. My mother, to her credit, didn’t tell me to calm down. She let me stand there for a moment as all the anger, hurt, and embarrassment came rushing to the surface.
“Or how about the fact that Rory won’t get to date the girl of his dreams because he’s friends with me!” I practically yelled.
“Henry, what are you talking about?” she asked, coming around the car to stand next to me.
I couldn’t stop the tears that started to stream down my face. “Rory. Shawna says that she won’t date him as long as he’s friends with me. He’s liked her for years and now I’m the reason that they can’t be together? And what about Tab and Danny? They stood up to Hunter. Who kno
ws what kind of things are going to be said about them now?”
My mother took a deep breath and reached down to take my trembling hands in hers. When she spoke again, her voice was soft but full of conviction.
“Henry, your friends care about you. They know standing up for you is the right thing to do, no matter what. Yes, it might be hard for awhile, but both Rory and Tab are good kids. So is Danny. They wouldn’t have done it if they couldn’t handle it. Sweetie, you have give them more credit.”
“I never want to have to be the reason that someone gets made fun of.”
“You won’t be.”
I didn’t waste any time in hugging my mother. I wasn’t sure how long we stood in the driveway, I just know that at one point, we made our way inside. My father pulled into the driveway a few minutes later and together the three of us sat inside in the living room and cried. Again, I wasn’t sure how long we sat there holding each other, though eventually the tears dried up, at least for the time being.
“Are you going to be okay?” my father asked.
“Yeah,” I replied, wiping away some lingering tears. “I think so.”
“What you’re doing is very brave. You know that, right?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
“Good.”
We sat in an awkward silence for a moment.
“You guys can go back to work,” I said.
“We are not leaving you alone after that,” my mother snapped.
“Really, I’ll be fine,” I lied.
“I can work from home,” my father said. “And so can your mother.”
“Really, I don’t want you to totally rearrange your day…”
“No more arguing,” my father said. “We’re staying home.”
I sighed and knew there was no winning this argument. “Alright, fine. But I think I’m going to go up to my room and lie down for awhile. Is that okay?”
“Sounds good,” my mother said.
I gave them both one more hug and then bounded up the stairs. Once I was in my room, I pulled out my phone and started going through my various social media sites. It was as bad as I had feared. For every person that stood up for me, there were two that said something awful. It got worse when I looked at the sites of both Rory and Tab. They were being called everything from butt-buddies to fag lovers.
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