❝Do you realize how messed up we are, hiding our honest feelings just because we wanted to be stereotypically normal? It's bullshit. ❞
*****
Kirlia Hemmings is normal and she makes sure that she reminds herself of that fact, at least once every day...
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"It's still not justified!" I huffed begrudgingly as I swirled the drink in my hand.
"Kirlia, life is never fair–"
"Lucas, I don't want you to be a philosophical friend right now. I can't take that shit, not at the moment-"
"But that's the thing, Hemmings. People were mean to them and now they are mean to us-"
"Really? Are you siding with that bullshit too?"
I and Lucas sat opposite each other in Gloria's Cafe, both of us having ordered a frap. Ever since the cafeteria scandal, all timidness seemed to have deserted me, and I was filled with anger, anger, and frustration at how illogical Jason's logic was. But everyone in school seemed to have accepted the baseless norm of impractical grudges.
"That's not bullshit! That makes sense," Lucas stood up and walked up towards me, sliding into the empty seat next to mine. He breathed loudly, shaking his head in mild amusement.
"Before you utter any other thing which would land us in further trouble, listen to me. And no interruptions-" he added as he saw how I had opened my mouth to reiterate.
Heaving, I stayed silent for his sake. The space within us had significantly reduced but none of us were lingering on that issue. Yet.
"A year ago, things weren't this complicated. It started when I had joined Pride High and they were shocked to see me there," Lucas narrated, dejected that he was the cause of this rupture that took place in the school.
"People just couldn't accept any student from Bridgeton. So, rather than hating the school, they started hating the students. At the end of the day, they are all prejudiced about how both of us made it into the school despite being part of Bridgeton. It's a rivalry between these two schools which is to blame."
"Then why doesn't anyone do anything about it?" I shot up. If it's a rivalry between schools, then it should be dealt with rather than letting it grow and hurt people like me and Lucas.
Lucas, however, just shook his head as he inclined back to rest his head on the seat. "It's not that easy, Hemmings. It's pretty complicated to deal with. All we had planned was to lay low and complete our year."
"Why not advocate against it?"
"Because," he started as he took a sip from the frap, "you can't go around convincing others to accept us. That's exactly how the world is. The way you can't convince society to accept the LGBT community easily is the same way Pride High students can't accept straight students like us. They want us to face how they feel among others, hoping that we could make a change. If you want someone to make an impact, then you have to be the first person to do something about it."
I stared at Lucas as his words started making sense. What both Lucas and Jason want is acceptance but their ways are drastically different. One wants to silently make a change while the other is vocal about it. At the end of the day, it's the silence that suffers the most for he accepts it all without a question.
