Sand Between Our Fingers

02 ~

MARK'S POV

It was August 8th and this was the first official day of Senior Year. Everyone I knew already had planned out what they wanted to do in life; College, Prospects and the one thing I lacked the most on, love. Love wasn't so easy when you had homophobic parents who tried to make every decision for you, and micromanaged your entire existence. Why couldn't they just let me be normal and find love by myself. If I even brought up that I liked boys to my Mom and Dad, I would be chained up in the basement for the rest of my life.

Now, life didn't go without its problems for me, because I did have crushes but none of them liked me back, not like in that way. I did happen to be friends with one of them though, but that is all I was. His name is Jackson Wang and he is the star football player for our High School. We started talking when I was in the end of my Junior year, he just came up to me in the boys' locker room and asked if he could vent to me, so I listened.

*     *     *

This morning was particularly rough considering that I was more of a night owl than anything else and not taking care of that issue accordingly screwed me over. I opened my eyes at the sound of an alarm going off, a sound I knew all too well. I reached for my phone silencing the alarm with a sigh, I just looked up at the ceiling of the room.

"I promise that this year I will finally be myself, I will find a way to make everything work out so that I can finally be happy," I promised myself for the millionth time in my life.

With a stretch and a grunt I pulled myself out of the bed and rose to my feet. The sunlight was daring to fill the room as it showed it's glow through the blinds. I was of course not one to ever deny sunlight to my plant babies, so I opened the gate for that golden light to sing down onto my plants. Per usual I greeted my plants and gave them words of encouragement before fulfilling their need to be watered.

"Grow tall and show off your leaves and flowers, don't ever stop no matter what," I told them with a bittersweet smile. I just wish I could do what I told my plants to do.

After breaking the sad reminders away I strolled into the bathroom looking myself over in the mirror. To my family and few friends, I was handsome and there was nothing wrong with me, but aren't they supposed to be on your side? When I looked in the mirror all I saw was everything I wished was different, nobody knew how I felt about my appearance because I was always just keeping the smile on my face. To everyone at school I was just the science nerd that sat in the back of the class and got the good grades. I had my online friends and I suppose that I had Jackson as well, but I never counted on people sticking around.

With a sigh I got out my facial cleanser and began to wash away the night's dirt. I had already determined that since I had showered before bed that the rest didn't matter today. I would just wash my face and do my hair then get dressed. My outfit today had to be different for some reason, I didn't know why but I felt like breaking out something that I had never worn before. Perhaps I would impress someone? Nah, that wouldn't happen but I still decided to dress up for the occasion. Usually I would wear all black, and I did today, but what was under my clothes was what counted, my parents would shit themselves if they saw what I had on. Under all my normal clothes I had put on a bright red crop top with a pink heart in the middle. I complimented the top with a tight pearl necklace, I always wore this, and some baggy blue jeans with white sneakers. I actually felt like I looked nice for once and that was rare. Without a second thought I put a more floral perfume in my bag that I wouldn't spray until I got to school in hopes that the scent plus the outfit might lure a certain jock into my romantic circle.

JACKSON'S POV

School was school, life has always been the same old story for me ever since I proved I was good at sports. 'Milk it out, you can get a scholarship and become a doctor and marry a very pretty girl' I could still here those words echo in my head. Sometimes I wondered if my parents gave a shit about what made me happy, because they never asked. I got to wear the same fucking thing every single day of the week, blue jeans and a varsity jacket. My parents told me it was good for my character. I don't want to be the football jock, I want to be the math geek again, I'll become a doctor but I just wanted to do what I was good at and be who I was.

Luckily for me, I had a friend who I could talk to now about what was wrong. I told him everything about how I was feeling and since he didn't have much social status I didn't need to worry about the word getting out. Is it wrong of me to talk to him because he makes me feel safe?

Today was the last first day of High School and to be honest I couldn't be more excited. I had already been accepted into a few of the colleges I had selected and planned on leaving this city in the dust behind me once I graduated. These were all pleasant little thoughts I was having until I noticed a bright red shirt approaching the front of the school. I had never seen...wait was that? It was Mark...he looked so...NO, I am not attracted to boys. My eyes widened for a moment once I saw that he was walking closer to me, I had to pull it together, but he looked so good and what was that smell?

"Heyo, can I talk to you?" Mark asked me. I didn't mind if he talked to me in front of everyone, I wasn't a complete asshole.

"What's up?" I asked. 

"I've been thinking about this for a little bit, and well I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out after school? I know this is weird but..." He said before I cut him off.

"Yeah, no worries," I said with a small smile, why the hell was I smiling over a hangout?

MARK'S POV

Was he smiling at the fact that I asked him to hangout or was I just hallucinating? No, there was no way that he would smile at something like that. He was clearly straight and into girls, I was completely off the radar. All of this euphoria was broken though when the first bell rang signaling that it was time to go to class. After some research I did find that Jackson and I shared most of the same classes, so that was great, I'd get more time around him this year than last.

As I entered the building a group of guys approached me and pushed me into the lockers. I felt the wind leave my lungs and the world began to spin, I was disoriented for sure. 

"Faggot, who let you leave the house like that?" They all laughed at me.

"It's just clothes," I replied. They slammed my head into the locker and began to grab me all over, this was horrible. I never would've imagined this would happen.

Right as I got oriented again I noticed that the leader of the group had balled up his fist and was getting ready to punch me. I closed my eyes and waited for the blow. When I hear skin hit skin I flinched but, I felt no pain. I opened one eye to see that Jackson had stepped in the middle and caught the boy's hand. I was lost for words.

"Leave him alone," Jackson said. I was flattered really and a blush burned on my cheeks.

Soon the school admins were coming over to see what had happened and the boys fled away so they wouldn't get in trouble. After Jackson and I explained everything that had happened they did tell me that my parents would have to be called and that I was violating the school dress code. Fantastic, so I get beat up for dressing like I want to, get called a faggot and now my parents get to know every single bit of it because I am getting sent home. Great, just great...