Beronica

Chapter Fifteen: Revealed Veronica Pov:

I try to stay strong and ignore the rumors. But it's so hard. I want to scream at them, yelling to talk to my face, daring them to. I'm helpless though. The only protection I have is my beloved Betty. My shield in the war. My blanket for the cold. She snatches peoples phones and curses at them. It gives me the very little comfort I can spare. Betty is my knight in shining armor and this is how I know that I love her.

We can only steal a single moment alone, and it's at the end of the day. I see an empty classroom and instinctively take Betty inside, shutting the door. Sitting on a desk, I wrap my legs around Betty's waist as she kisses me. " I've missed you so much." She says.

I chuckle. " We go to the same school,"

" Not the same classes." Betty points out.

I can't help but smile.

My heart is warm on my way home from school. It is snuffed out by my mother's icy glare when stepping through the door. She sits at the table. Across from her sits Father Woods, the town's priest. " Veronica, please sit down." Father Woods instructs, " your mother wanted to talk with you, and asked me to help."

I set down my bag. " I don't understand, Father."

" You have sinned, Veronica." Mom says, flatly.

And it all dawns on me. " Mom," I say, " you can't do this. You can't pray away the gay."

" Don't say that word. We just need to talk-"

" You can't pray away the gay!!" I yell, anger boiling over, " you can't pray away the gay!"

With that I march my way to my room and slam the door. I hear the wall crack with the force. This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening.

My heart ached with hurt and distress. So I call Betty, asking if I can come over. In a heartbeat, she says yes.

" She dragged a priest, a priest, to our house so she could somehow convert me to this stereotypical straight girl?!" I vent to Betty, tears running down my face, " I can't- I can't do this Betty. I can't do this! I don't want to hide, I don't want to pretend I like boys. Because I like you. I love you!"

Betty gets up and wipes the tears from my cheeks. She presses her forehead against mine. " Okay. If you want to come out, I will support you. Because I love you too. And I'm not ashamed to say I like girls."

And that's when we decided we didn't need to hide anymore.

At school the next day, I feel better about the whole priest debacle. Betty helped me realize that I don't need Mom's approval to love someone. But I push the part of me down that wants it.

You would think the chatter from yesterday would've died down by now. People stare at me even more though. It makes me feel like an open wound for the world to see. Archie comes out of nowhere and grabs me. " What are you-"

Archie takes me into the janitor's closet. " Have you seen it?" He asks, breathless.

He must've been running. " What? What have I seen?" I ask.

Scrolling through the many posts of the school website, Archie basically pushes the phone into my face. " It was posted last night."

The post read: Friendship turned love life #secret gf's

Below it was a picture of Betty and I kissing in a classroom. This was from yesterday.

When I leave the janitor's closet, I almost run over Betty. She's in a frenzy. Her face is flushed. " Veronica. I don't know how- we just need to-"

" Stop," I say, " we need to stop. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I can't deal with this now."

I run away from Betty and from the people who were watching us. We didn't do anything! And yet we're the ones who are getting outed.