Stay A Little Longer: A Short Story

~Three~

I hugged Andy from behind. He jumped a little bit but relaxed when he saw it was me.

"Woah, there, Jumping Beans, what's gotten into your pants?" I whisper in his ear and steady him by his waist. He smiles and kisses my lips. One of the jocks from the football team passes by us and gags. That makes the people around him giggle and point at us.

"Screw you, Will," Andy shouts. The big hunk of meat we call our linebacker turns around and points an angry finger at him.

"Wouldn't Gay-son here be angry if you did that?" Will taunts. He high-fives some kids while trudging down the hall. I roll my eyes and wrap my arm around Andy. He seems smaller, more fragile, somehow. I wonder what's going on?

"You okay?" I ask, real concern in my eyes.

"Peachy," he says and pats my hand. "Lets head to class, I heard Mr. Greeg isn't here so..."

"Max is putting on a show!" I finish with a smile. He grins and we walk down the hall, my arm draped over him, his arm around my waist. We meet up with Claire by the door and she motions us inside. We would want to be sitting when Max makes their big entrance!

As soon as my butt touches the seat, a woman with a tight, short skirt and a tank top with heels walks in the classroom. Claire is staring mega hard and I have to tap her desk to stop her from proposing on the spot.

"Good morning class, I am your substitute-" she starts, but is cut off by the sound of the classroom door slamming. A half drunk Max waltzes in.

"What up bitches?" Max slurs and leans on the teacher's desk. They're wearing a yellow jacket with pink butterflies on it and baggy jeans that I've seen in their brother's closet.

"Er, please... have a seat." The sub commands Max. I notice she didn't use the words "sir" or "ma'am".

"Where's that old cunt Mr. Greeg?" Max asks. Everyone shrugs and holds back snickers. This happens all the time with them- Max comes in drunk, insults Mr. Greeg, and then insults the sub. They haven't insulted the sub yet...

"You married?" Max asks the sub. She folds her arms and reluctantly nods. "Why?" Max shrugs their nose and makes a disgusted face.

The whole class erupts with laughter. A few people whoop and a loud voice in the back goes: "You go, Max, my man!"

The sub points at Max and says harshly, "Sir, go to your seat." The class erupts with laughter again.

"What?" the sub asks exasperated. "What's so funny?"

"I'll tell you what's funny," Max says, "I'm not a dude." The sub looks shocked and a little bit embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry, Sweetie-"

"I'm not a chick either."

It seems as if Max was going to explode so I step in "C'mon, Maximinus, sit down." Maximinus is a little nickname I gave Max- a mix between their feminine and masculine name. They seem to like it.

Max stumbles to their seat and plops down, glaring daggers at the sub. She somehow got through the lesson with only three interruptions from Max. That's a record.
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When the bell rang, Mrs. McWay (the sub) asked Max to stay after class. Not unusual. I walk Claire to her next class and tell Andy I'll catch him later.

"Any luck with the cheerleader?" I ask her.

"I found out what her name was and... some other stuff." Claire says.

"Ooh, 'other stuff'? Greyson interested!"

"Her name is Bonnie and she tells her mom she's a babysitter so she could go out at night." I could tell that wasn't all by the way her mouth was set.

"Mhm. And?"

"And what?"

"Talk, Claire. I know you're hiding something."

She grins like a fool and blushes.

"She's coming over my house to watch her favourite movie and... you know... I gots that Claire Charm," she winks. I laugh and push her arm.

"Yeah, well, good luck. Get that skirt off of her!" I say with a smirk and run down the hallway towards my second period. Just six more to go.
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After eighth period, I feel like crashing. A car. Into a bridge. And then yelling "I DON'T CARE!!!" Though, I don't have a car to crash. My mom would kill me if I did that to my super duper NON-expensive piece of crap.

But, it was finally the end of the school day, which meant an aggravating ten minute bus ride to Andy's house. I don't really spend much time at my house, because my own family hates me. My parents look down on me, my older brother won't talk to me, and my little siblings are kept away from me, under the close watch of my dad. As if homosexuality is contagious!

So, yeah, I mostly crash at Andy's and visit home on Sundays. At least Andy's parents are supportive and his sister still interacts with him...

When I step onto the bus behind Andy, the tormenting started. On the school bus, we were free range. I'd made a big mistake earlier this year getting into the bus holding Andy's hand. I was pelted and pushed and poked for what seemed like an eternity. Now we were apart, Andy in front, me behind him so I could keep an eye on him.

But it was at that moment, I knew I had fucked up.
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Andy wasn't supposed to be in front, I thought. But it was too late.

"Hey, Brandy, how's it goin'? Sucked anything lately?" Will snickered. All I heard from Andy was a strangled squeak. I hurried up the stairs and saw Will holding Andy by the neck. My ears were ringing like someone rang a bell. And that bell was the "Get Your Hands Off My Fucking Boyfriend" bell.

I moved so quick, I almost hadn't realized I did move. My hand found Will's throat and held fast. He dropped Andy and struggled to breathe. I let go just as he was turning blue and he ran to his seat, gasping for air.

"I'll kill you!" he threatened. "I will fucking kill you! You'll regret that!"

I didn't care. I just wanted to make sure Andy was okay. He was wheezing and struggling to sit up. A bruise formed easily under his chin. I pulled him into a seat in the very front and tried to help him breathe. It took the whole ride but he got control of his breaths.

When we reached our street corner, I turn to start walking down the sidewalk when something catches my eye. It makes my stomach turn and I want to cry out so badly but didn't want to alarm Andy.

"C'mon," I pulled Andy along.

"What?" he moaned.

"We need to get you home, Andy, really, really, REALLY quickly." I dragged him along at a speed I was sure he couldn't manage. I just wanted to save my boyfriend.

When I opened the door the the house, I immediately plopped him on the couch.

"MRS. LAVIGNE!!! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH ANDY!!!"