Lay Me Down (MxM)

14. Visceral Reaction

Hi lovely humans!

So, tonight's chapter is going to be a bit different, as you're going to be meeting Ellis Song. I hadn't intended to actually pen an entire chapter under his perspective, but well, that's where the dopamine and creativity took me. I'm a little nervous to post it because my brain did a whole bunch of things with the chapter, but I hope you guys will enjoy it anyway. Please let me know what you think in the comments! Feel free to spin some theories about Song and Jae, and how do you feel about Jordan Wilder by the end of this chapter? Thank you so much for reading, I'm going to be one tired guy tomorrow as I am just now going to bed at almost two in the morning!

Best, Quill.

Ellis Song

I dropped like lead into my chair, staring into my desk. The emptiness and silence of my classroom was a welcome relief after the afternoon I'd had. It was... interesting to say the least. Apart from my first months as a new teacher at Sherman, my classes since have always gone off without much of a hitch. I'd call it rather atypical, considering many of my colleagues must contend with regular drama and interruption most days.

Not me, though.

Today was an anomaly of a much different sort. An anomaly for myself, certainly, as I'd never shared such personal information with a student before. Most of all, however, today must have been the most horrific of anomalies for Lucas Price. I didn't know Lucas well, he was quiet, cheery, and never disruptive. He turned his assignments in on time and got good grades. I knew relatively nothing else about Lucas, other than the fact he played for our Soccer team, the Sea Dogs.

I grimaced and tapped at my keyboard to wake my computer screen up. Truly, I felt exposed after sharing that bit of information about myself with Lucas. He did his best to appear indifferent, but it was more than obvious to me that he was likely closeted, and deeply hurt by Jordan Wilder's attempt at outing him.

"Wilder..." I muttered, her name leaving somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth.

Jordan wasn't a bad student either by any means, but her behavior in class today had drastically altered my opinion of her. As an educator, it's my job to not pick a "side" when it comes to benign, student-to-student drama. However, the incident I'd witnessed earlier, I felt, was far from benign. I thought it had the potential to feed a deeper issue, and from where I was sitting, it seemed Jordan Wilder had intentionally tried to out Lucas, with humiliation being the goal. I wasn't a grumpy teacher, nor an overtly stern one at that, but outing somebody was a serious offense in my book and it left me in somewhat of a foul mood.

That girl was supposed to be here at any moment now so we could discuss it, but I fully anticipated she would play dumb when it came to her true intentions.

"Don't get emotional, Ellis." I said to myself, checking my watch once again to verify the time. I felt very unsettled, a little anxious even, and I knew it was because what I'd witnessed brought up certain memories for me. Memories I very much would have liked to forget. Lucas's visible distress ate at me on a visceral level—it was like looking at a mirror image of my younger self.

I stood up and grabbed the Clorox wipes I kept in my class, planning to wipe down my student's desks as I waited. Sitting was making me anxious, and Miss Wilder was five minutes late already.

I was beginning to think she might not show, but not several minutes into my end-of-day cleaning did she arrive. There was a noticeable bounce in her step, and I saw that she'd taken her braid out from earlier and was now wearing her hair in a curly, messy bun. She'd also, quite obviously, refreshed her makeup and exchanged lip gloss for a red lip.