Society | A Evan Lennon Story

4 - Love Is Stronger Than Hate

"Oh my god, that movie was so good!" Zamora says and Celeste laughs.

"Are you kidding me? Those jumpscares were terrible!" She exclaims.

"Speak for yourself." Barrett says and I grin as I look over at him.

"Okay, says the guy that got scared of the Hash Slinging Slasher." Celeste says and I laugh and Zamora asks,

"Really?!"

"No!"

"You definitely were." I say.

"You hid behind Evan like the entire time he was on screen until we practically begged you to look when he was revealed."

"Oh, remember when he got freaked out about Toy Story 3?"

Celeste laughs loudly and says, "Oh my god, yes!"

"It was unsettling!"

I grin and wrap an arm around his shoulder and pull him close and I ruffle his hair as I say, "It's okay, we still love you." He smiles softly at me and I look at Zamora and take my arm from Barrett.

"You guys seem to be very close, have you known each other for a while?" She asks.

"Yeah. Since year 6, well, I met Cel in year 6, then Barrett in year 7."

We stop at Celeste's car. "Yeah, it's been great meeting these two knobs." I grin.

Barrett scoffs. "Don't call us knobs!"

Celeste grins and rolls her eyes. "Whatever." She turns toward Zamora and asks, "You need a ride?"

"No, I'm alright. My dad should be here soon. Thanks though!"

"Alright." She turns toward Barrett and I. "You guys ready?" Barrett nods and I look at Zamora.

"You sure you don't want us to wait til your dad gets here?" I ask and she smiles.

"Oh, no, that's okay. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She turns and walks back toward the cinema. I watch her until Celeste breaks me from my trance.

"Evan, you coming?"

I turn and nod. "Yeah." I get into the backseat and shut the door. Celeste starts driving and I look back at the cinema. I would have felt more comfortable waiting til Zamora's dad came to pick her up, just to be sure she was okay, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Besides, I see her at school tomorrow, so no reason to obsess over it now.

"I'm home!" I shut the door and toss my jumper onto the couch.

"In here, honey." I walk into the kitchen and lean against the doorframe. Mum looks back at me and smiles. "How was the movie?" She asks.

I smile. "It was good."

"That's good." She looks back at the stove. "Are you hungry? I was just heating up some leftovers for your sister."

"No, I'm alright. I think I'm just gonna call it a night."

"Alright, honey." I push myself off the wall and turn and walk upstairs. I walk into my room and shut the door. I kick off my shoes and sit on my bed. I pull out my phone and go on Instagram and I see the posts made by Zamora, Celeste, and Barrett with the pictures we took today. I smile at each of the pictures and read some of the comments. My smile fades when I see some of the comments under Barrett's.

Aren't you the kid that tried to off himself?

Why are you always wearing a jumper, mate? Don't you get hot?

Didn't you hear? He tried to kill himself!

No way! What a freak.

I shake my head as I read. I even feel tears start to form in my eyes. I see a reply from Zamora under one of the comments.

Don't you guys have something better to do?

I smile. I make a post myself. It's of Barrett and I the summer of last year. I caption it, Love is stronger than hate. Then, I turn off my phone and stand to get ready for bed.

I walk into school and in the corridor, I see Barrett and Celeste. I smile. "Hey, guys." They look over at me and smile.

"Hey, Evan."

"Hey. Thank you for posting that last night." Barrett says.

I pat him on the shoulder as I smile. "You don't have to thank me, mate." I say. "I did it because I wanted to." I look to my right when we all hear a rather enthusiastic voice.

"Hi, guys!"

I smile. "Hey, Zamora."

"Hey, Z." Celeste says, which gets Zamora to look over at her and ask,

"Z?"

I look over as Celeste says, "Yeah. Z. I give everyone a nickname when they become an official member of our team."

"Don't call us a team." Barrett says.

"Trio?"

"There's four of us." I say.

"Then, uhh-"

Celeste is interrupted by books being slammed out of Barrett's hands. "Freak."

I look at Ben Keller from Barrett, who just stared down. My grin faded when I saw Barrett's face. I step over the books and walk over to Ben as he walks away with his other mates. I shove him forward. "Dick!" I fire back in response to his insult towards Barrett. He turns with a ridiculous grin on his face, which only makes me angrier because he has no absolute sense of human decency.

"Oh, don't tell me you actually care for that waste of space freak over there!"

"Coming from you. And he just happens to be one of my best friends, so if you fuck with him, you fuck with me."

"Oh, isn't that just pathetic!" He looks at who I assume is Barrett as he goes on to say, "Having the captain of the rugby team fight your battles because you're just a useless, weak, pathetic little fag." I grab him by his collar with both hands and I send him back before I punch him across the face.

"Evan!"

I hear my friends shout, but I don't look away from Ben. He looks at me with a angry look as I say, "Mess with Barrett again and next time, I'll give you a lot more than just a nose bleed." He looks past me and smiles deviously.

"Mr. Lennon!" I huff and turn. Just as I expected, the headmaster. "My office." I look back at Ben with an annoyed but threatening look. "Now." He says, more stern than before. I look forward and follow him down the hall into his office and he shuts the door.