Three's A Crowd

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

Raheem

I STOP DEAD IN MY TRACKS WHEN I SEE Billy Dawson and Victor Diaz standing in the bathroom staring directly at me as I come through the door. Both of them look scared, Victor mostly, which is an unusual expression for him. I've never seen him scared, but I never paid enough attention to care. Honestly, up until now, I thought he was just another dumb jock.

It's the most unlikely pairing I would ever think about, but I guess it makes sense since Victor's attraction to the same sex has been shoved into the light. And it only makes sense for him to talk to Billy Dawson, the good guy of all good guys. He's no Chucky, much to my disappointment.

I approach the situation the only way I know how. "Are you guys having a gay intervention? Because if you are, it's so rude that you guys didn't invite me, and honestly, I'm a little offended. But, to be totally honest, I'm kind of glad you didn't, the venue is a little underwhelming," I say with a playful smile.

Neither of them laughs at my joke.

Tough crowd. I guess, they're not quite there yet.

"Not the time either the place for jokes, Raheem," Billy tells me. It's meant to both shut me up and make me leave, but there is no way in hell I'm leaving this bathroom when the other pair of Fairview High's unofficial gay duo (Billy) and our new member to the mix (Victor), making it a trio, is in one room, all alone. No way in hell I'm leaving.

I feel like I need to be here. And, hell, I'm staying. They'll just have to deal with it.

It's pretty obvious why they're here. I know why Victor's eyes are redder than my eyes the first time I did pot or the second time, or the third I did pot. Anyway, that's not the point.

I got the photos that everyone can't seem to stop talking about on my way to school this morning. To say that I was shocked can not even be put into words. At first, I couldn't make out (no pun intended) who the guy was in the picture, but it became pretty clear to me after I squinted my eyes a little.

The other picture that was sent just made me fucking angry. And I am going to have a word with Principal Hellstrung about that sometime today. He will hear from me.

To say that whoever the culprit or culprits behind taking those pictures are nothing but pathetic little fuckers who can't bare the idea of someone being a little different from them would be the understatement of the fucking century. They're fucking disgusting and cruel. This entire town is fucking disgusting and no one seems to realize that. Or maybe everyone does realize it and just doesn't seem to care because the people that get bullied are the gays and no one really cares about the gays getting bullied.

I'm so eager to know what Principal Hellstrung's plan is to get the culprit behind this because it's painfully obvious that they're from our school, because who else would have it out for Victor? I mean, I don't know the guy, only in passing. Our paths have never been crossed, simply because we orbit different people.

Victor moves over to one of the sinks where he turns on the water and begins to wash his face of all the sadness. He doesn't even scratch the surface. "You guys don't have to be here," he says. The sound of wanting to be alone is very evident in the tone of his voice. I feel sorry for him, and that's saying something because I rarely feel sorry for people.

"What happened to you should never happen to anyone. It's cruel and wrong and I'm so sorry that it happened to you," Billy says, sounding like the guidance counselor I somehow see him becoming.

God, he's so formal, it almost makes me want to throw up.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the guy. I just think that he's a little too nice and I can't deal with that. People who are too nice get pushed around over and over again until they break, just like he does. There isn't anything wrong with being nice, but there is also a fine line between being nice and taking crap from people and not doing anything about it. Billy is the definition of crossing that line.