Call It What You Want To

Chapter 23: Taya

Mom let Kyler and I both skip school the following week. We both emailed our teachers and just said that we had a "personal family matter" that we needed some time for, and luckily all of them were pretty understanding. I also think that my dad called the school and let them know about "the situation" without going into too much detail about the specifics of it, because I heard him say my principal's name Sunday night on the phone. Yes, they played golf together too, but it's January in Indiana. Nobody's calling to talk about the golfing conditions.

Dylynn asked where I was within five minutes of school starting Monday. Ever since our strength and conditioning class got bumped up to our first hour, we always walked to the weight room together. I felt bad not texting her all weekend, especially after we spent almost every minute of last weekend together, but I didn't want to have to try and explain this to her just yet.

D: Coach said you'll be gone a couple days. Just know that I love you and I'm here for you for anything.

A little while later that same day, Dylynn asked if Kyler was with me. Now that we all sat together at lunch, it was obvious that we were both gone. I think that was when Dylynn started to put the pieces together that something happened at dinner Friday.

D: Take your time and text me when you're ready. I love you.

As much as I didn't want to burden Dylynn with my own problems, she came over Wednesday night after powerlifting let out to bring me some stuff from school that I needed. Kyler and I had spent most of the day laying in my bed watching TV and movies while Mila played between our legs. She was a really good distraction for everything.

My mom let Dylynn up to my room and she forced a smile when she came in. "Hey!" she tried to cheer while she came to sit on the end of my bed, a whole tote bag of my stuff slung over her shoulder.

"Hey Dyl," I chuckled, returning the hug that she had opened her arms up for. I turned back and forth from Kyler, who had sat up with me, and back to Dylynn before taking a deep breath.

"You don't have to-" Dylynn started to say before I stopped her.

"It's okay," I promised. Over the last few days of Kyler and I both being absent from school, she had started to draw conclusions about what went down.

"My, uh, my..." Kyler said, pausing before drawing in a breath and biting her lip. "My mom kicked me out." Tears pricked at the edge of her eyes, but Ky did what she had been doing the past couple days where she'd just look to the ceiling to fight them back. We'd been doing a lot of crying the last few days at random, and both of us had been trying a little bit more to hold it together.

Dylynn's mouth dropped, her whole body jutting forward while her eyes widened. "What?" she asked in disbelief.

Kyler and I took turns telling her what happened. We tried to keep the short version of the story so that we wouldn't have to repeat everything Melissa said about Kyler and I. We just told Dylynn that she had said "some awful things" about us, as if being called a "disgusting fag" could just be summed up as awful.

Dylynn stayed over for dinner that night and things felt so unbelievably normal. The table was completely full at dinner with Kyler and Dylynn there, and it's been the first time in a long time that's happened. Dad had made spaghetti and we were all actually laughing as Mila got it all over herself.

"Ya like it, MiMi?" Kyler laughed, her whole body doubling over as Mila pulled and tangled spaghetti noodles into her hair. It was the first time I really saw her laugh since everything happened.

Kyler and I stayed up late after Dylynn left. Our sleep schedules in the last few days had completely gone to shit since we could barely make it through the night without waking up. Ky hadn't admitted it yet, but we were both having nightmares whenever we'd try to sleep and then we'd wake the other person up in the process since we had both been sharing my bed. It felt like the short naps we'd get in during the day when we watched movies or would take breaks during our homework was when we'd actually get to sleep somewhat peacefully.