The Story You Were Never Told

2 - Normality

Two years later:

"Jonah! Come on, hurry up Dad's waiting!" Oakley shouted up the stairs to his little brother. The house was always chaotic like this on a Monday morning, everyone trying to get out of the house by eight so they could get to school on time and their Dad could get to work. Jonah was always slow with getting changed so Oakley always packed his bag in the morning after he took his meds for his narcolepsy. Their dad was packing his files for work since he worked in a really busy law firm and often took some work home with him. Despite being busy though, he always found time to spend with his kids to try and improve the rest of their childhood.

Jonah eventually stomped down the stairs in a mood. Oakley noticed he didn't seem like his happy self and went over to him. "Hey Jo, what's wrong?" Oakley asked like a concerned parent. He really wanted to take care of Jonah's wellbeing.

"I don't want to go to school. Me and Charlie aren't friends anymore." Jonah ranted to Oakley about his friendship issues. 

Oakley sighed and picked Jonah up, making sure he was steady on his feet when he did so. "What happened? Was it just a little argument?" Oakley had been that age before. He knew stupid little arguments could spring up like at anytime. 

Jonah just nodded and rubbed his eyes since he was still tired. "Listen Jonah. School is going to be okay. Just apologise for what happened. I'm sure that is all it will take until you two are friends again. I'll come pick you up after school and if you two are friends, I might see if you can go to Charlie's for dinner. How does that sound?" 

Since Oakley's father started work at 9, he usually worked until late so Oakley picked up Jonah from school and took him home. Jonah occasionally went to Charlie's house every now and then when Oakley had to stay behind for school for whatever reason, whether it be for the football team or for missed homework, detentions etc. 

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It normally took 15 minutes to get to school but because of traffic it took them 25 minutes, making Oakley late for class. He quickly ran into school and to his classroom. He was never normally late and couldn't afford to be if he wanted to make it out of school in time. 

Oakley opened the classroom door and saw everyone already sitting down in their seats and the teacher telling them the daily announcements. His homeroom teacher (Mrs Alejandra) turned to look at him. "Oakley? I thought you would have been off, not late."

"Look I'm sorry Miss but there was lots of traffic on the way here and we got out of the house late because of my little brother." Oakley told her, hoping he would get out of a detention. He promised Jonah he would take him to his friends house tonight for dinner. 

"It's okay. I guess I'll let you off since this was your first time. If you're late again though Oakley you will be paying back the time you missed." Mrs Alejandra warned him, trying to be fair. 

Oakley didn't mind that whatsoever. He sat down at his desk next to Adela and put his bag next to his leg on the floor. He put his head on the desk and shut his eyes since it was still early and Oakley definitely wasn't a morning person. 

Adela shook him after a few minutes to make sure he wasn't falling asleep, knowing the condition he had. "Hey Oak, you awake?" Adela asked, making sure Oakley was okay. 

Oakley nodded and picked his head up, rubbing his eyes as they readjusted to the light in the room. He took out his timetable to see what his first class was. He sighed, seeing science was first. "I have such a bad class first. Science. What do you have?" He asked Adela, praying she was in his class to at least make it a little bit more enjoyable.

Adela and Oakley were childhood best friends. They had known each other since preschool and both knew about each other's deepest secrets. They were always there for each other, promising to never leave each other behind no matter the circumstances. 

"I have science as well. I have math after and I know you aren't in my math classes so we are alone then." Adela replied, seeming disappointed with the day ahead. Oakley also gave a sigh, now knowing he would be without his best friend for some classes that day.

"Well at least I have Aria and Sadie in my class. I think in 11th grade though Sadie might be moving to a lower class." Oakley told Adela. And that's when the gossip began over math classes. 

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Science came by really fast to Oakley. He really didn't enjoy that class but he didn't mind the seating plan they were put in. They were sat in boy-girl order so he was allowed to sit next to Adela which of course he was happy about. They instantly got to chatting non-stop, talking about any topic that came to their minds. Oakley thought of one which he was putting off telling Adela, not knowing what she would say. "Hey Adela?"

"Yeah?" She replied, picking her head up from the book she was writing in to look at him. She was intrigued to know what Oakley was about to start talking about. 

"So, I kind of have a crush. And he's a boy-" Before Oakley could go any further with his sentence, Adela interrupted him.

"Oakley. We know you are gay. You made a big thing about coming out to me in 5th grade. And you said the same exact thing then about the crush." Adela laughed a little bit and messed his hair up.

Oakley laughed and pushed Adela's arm away from him so she couldn't mess his hair up anymore. "I know! I didn't know you were gay as well!"

-----5th Grade-----

Oakley was sat in Homeroom next to Adela, a little nervous. He wanted to tell her his new crush but he wasn't sure how she would react to the fact it was a boy. His mother acted awfully to it so he assumed everyone else would. Adela noticed how Oakley's knees were bopping up and down a little bit and tapped him on the shoulder, trying to grab his attention.

"Hm?" Oakley hummed as he turned to face her, keeping his gaze low so he wasn't properly looking at her. He knew that Adela thought something was up.

"What's wrong? You seem really nervous about something. Has something happened? Do you need to stay at mine for the night? You can bring Jonah, I'll get my mom to pick him up." Adela seemed concerned since she knew about how Oakley's homelife was starting to get a little hard for him. It wasn't as bad as it would be in the future, everything was just starting to unfold.

Oakley finally made eye contact to reassure everything was fine. "No no, I'm fine, everything is fine. It's just- I need to tell you something but you have to promise you won't see me any differently than you do now." 

Adela nodded. "Yeah, of course. You know I wouldn't judge you about anything. You can tell me Oak." Adela told him, making sure he knew that whatever Oakley had to say, Adela would still see him as the same old Oakley.

"Okay. So I have a crush, and he's a boy." Oakley looked away and kind of mumbled the last bit of the sentence. He shut his eyes and bit his lip, bracing himself for any reaction Adela would give. He didn't know what that reaction was going to be since he was expecting his mother's reaction to that bad. 'Expect the unexpected' he told himself before telling Adela.

Adela just looked at him and laughed a bit. "Oakley, it's okay. I'm gay too." Oakley turned back to look at her and smiled a little bit. He hugged her, feeling relieved that her reaction wasn't a bad one.

"I never knew you were gay. You seem so open about it. How come you didn't tell me about it?" Oakley asked, pulling away from her after a little bit.

Adela shrugged. "I guess I just thought it was obvious and I didn't really know when or how to tell you. I'm glad you told me first to be honest. And I'm bi, actually." 

Oakley nodded and smiled more at her. "Well, I told you I have a crush. So what about you? Anyone I should be aware of?" 

(1445 words. There's most likely going to be another part to this today so look out for that (: )