High School Survival Theory

Chapter 59

"It all started before I was even born." Ashton murmurs against my neck. I have an arm wrapped around his and I silently listen to him. "Did you wonder how come I look at lot like dad, I mean Chris, if my parents are both gay?"

I crane my head. "I didn't want to be the judgmental one here but yeah, there was this one, I mistook him for you. So-you know, I was a bit-Uh, confided?" I say, recalling the day in Uganda when I ran into Mr. Fellan-the other Mr. Fellan. I had mistaken him as Ashton. "Was it normal, or am I the only one-"

Ashton shakes his head. "No it's not," he says.

"But how is that possible?" I mean unless Mr. Fellan had an affair with a girl previously.

Ashton seems to read my mind as he chuckles. "No, it's not that bad as you're thinking, you'll understand it all once you hear my full story."

"Okay," I say, and look down. There's a small smile playing in the corner of his lips. But it all dies soon when he says, "I was my biological parents' bastard. Beth, and Henry- their names, if I'm not wrong." He pauses and inhales a deep breath. I guess it's a very touchy topic for him. Yet, he decided to tell me about all of it.

"They were both in college when they met and hooked up and I popped out of nowhere. The woman who gave me birth left me at my grandparents, paternal grandparents, doorstep the day she was discharged from the hospital after giving my birth. No one saw her again after that one. The man who had half of the contribution to my existence refused to raise me. So my grandparents took me under their wings. That was a year before that fucker died on a road accident, probably intoxicated while driving. I never got to learn much about any of them," he pauses.

"My grandpa died in the same year from heart failure and I was left alone with my grandma. She was my world, my everything. But I wasn't built for deserving good."

I gasp and turn to look at him. But Ashton forces me back to my place and nuzzles his head against my neck. "My grandma died when I was four. I had no one left, I didn't know anyone from my mother's family. That was when my grandparents' other son stepped into my life. It was Dad."

My eyes widen in realization. It all makes sense now.

"Yes, we look a lot alike, sometimes people mistake me as his own son," he says. "And he and papa did treat me like one. Dad was eight years older than his brother and took over grandpa's business after he graduated from college. When he took me in, he was in a ten-year relationship with papa, they welcomed me in their family instantly. They adopted me in a few months. I was happy with them. I was loved, I was cared for. For the first time in my life, I finally had my own parents and I couldn't be prouder."

His lips stretch into a smile as he continues, "They adopted Riley when I was ten. Her parents didn't want to keep her and put her for adoption before she was born. And got married as soon as the same-sex marriage law came out, kinda like modern family."

We laugh. "Yes, we have the best family I could imagine, everything was like a dream. But it wasn't the same in the school," he pauses. "Kids in my school knew about our family and so they made it an excuse to bully me. We lived on the upper side of New York and you can imagine how some rich people raise their kids," he says.

I take his hand in mine and squeeze it, no wonder he doesn't miss New York.

"My life in New York went like that," he says. "Most teachers didn't take my family situation nicely and that encouraged my classmates to bully me more. No one wanted to be my friend. I was that lonely boy every school-based book has. My classmates wouldn't cooperate with me when I signed up for the football team in the team school, the coach also did nothing about it. They wouldn't let me play in the field and hardly invited me to practice with them. With not many choices left, Dad then hired a private coach for me so I can continue practicing football at home."