Closeted

01

September 28, Wednesday 

     Although the students had two more months till it was November, they were looking forward to Thanksgiving break. The week of spending time with family and only having to focus on a part-time job instead of juggling classes and work. Halloween was coming sooner than a week of no school. Who wasn't excited for trick or treating, grotesque horror movies, getting lost in corn mazes, and parties with booze?  Some teenagers were ready to show off their costumes on Twitter, Instagram, or whatever they used. The girls were ready to show off their boobs and skin just for likes while the boys were getting likes for showing off their abs and muscles. Flaunting each "perfect" detail of their body. Through the pictures of the popular kids in high-school, number 34 of the Red Bears wouldn't be posting any of that. Brendan Miller was a good football player and had the looks of a prom king. His dark brown hair swayed back gently since his hair was short, his gray-green eyes were sharp. Brendan was 6'3 and his body proportions made him look sturdy, strong. The reason why Brendan wouldn't post many pictures of himself was all thanks to a special somebody he wanted to forget. 

     Caleb Novak was a bit of the opposite. He had fluffy brown hair that was long enough to hide his brown eyes which looked big and gentle. Circular glasses laid gently on the bridge of his nose just right. He wasn't fit, he had a slight chub but having a different body shape shouldn't be something one is ashamed of. Caleb was shorter than most of the students, 5'5. He didn't do social media because he didn't see the appeal in those little hearts or compliments. He was also nervous about hackers and stalkers. Caleb wasn't even physically social. Whenever he met someone or talked to someone he didn't know, he tended to stutter quite a bit. When he gets to know them, he stops stuttering as much. His voice however has always sounded hushed. Caleb wasn't big on the whole outside voice thing. There was a lot of differences between them. Brendan was a bit hard-headed, he was emotionally stronger and Caleb was gentle and sensitive. It wasn't bad to be an empath but Caleb didn't like crying at movie character deaths and such. He felt pathetic so he did his best to avoid sad movies. 

     They shared a few classes together. Caleb nor Brendan made eye contact with one another since they barely knew each other. All they knew was the other's name due to attendance roll call. Brendan remembered chuckling with the rest of the class when Caleb's last name, Novak, was pronounced Nuu-Vahk. It was an odd last name for sure but he didn't choose it. Sadly a bunch of students didn't let the mispronounced name go. That's what Caleb is going to be known for now on, Nuu-vahk. He hoped people would forget but every day, "Hey Nuuuuvahk!" or even "Yo Moovahk".  It was just mispronounced once, only one time. After a week of that, Brendan found no appeal to the teasing anymore. That's when they made eye contact. Caleb sat down at his desk, Brendan's eyes following the slumped shoulders of the smaller boy. Caleb had looked up to see Brendan looking at him. He adverted his gaze since Brendan's stare gave him the chills. Brendan didn't feel bad or anything, he just realized how tired Caleb looked from all the teasing. 

     Caleb's friends; Luka and Dylan, were sitting next to him. They tried their best to chase away the teasing students from Caleb. It just made it worse since they were now considered his "body-guards" instead of friends. That made Caleb feel bad. He didn't have Dylan and Luka around because they protected him, they've been friends since fourth grade. It all started with a dandelion and progressed to a healthy friendship. Dylan spoke, "My sister is throwing a party, would you like to come Caleb?" Dylan's sister, Sunny, was a senior as Dylan was a junior. She was going to graduate later in the year but before she did, she wanted to throw one last high-school party before she went to college out of state. Caleb shrugged slightly. He wasn't all for parties, he hated the crowds, the loud laughter, and the aroma of beer. "You might not have much of a choice Dyl so I'll go," Caleb said. It was true, because Dylan was younger, he had to be dragged around his sisters parties so having Luka and Caleb, people he knew, would be nice. He didn't really like some of his sister's friends for they were a bit much, by that he meant they were loud and always talking about their own lives. Dylan could barely put in an opinion without one of her friends interrupting and making it about their experiences.  With Caleb and Luka, he felt heard and he felt like he was an equal amongst them.