Out of the Closet

Nick

Welcome to my new story! Before you start reading I have a few things to say:
1. Warning! Homophobic assholes in this chapter
2. If anything in this story is offensive (there will be potentially offensive terms) please let me know somehow and I'll change it
3. This story will have a same-sex couple, so if you don't like that don't read this.

(Pic is of Nick)

"Have you seen this?" My mother spat, tossing the iPad to me. "It's disgusting." I pick it up to see it opened on CNN. The article my mother was reading was fairly recent, the heading read "Same-Sex Marriage Legal In All 50 States." I hide my smile behind a frown.
"I don't know, it's pretty great," I say, shrugging as I hand it back to my mom.
"What do you mean? It's awful!" She groaned, flipping it off.
"Yeah, sorry. Yeah, it's... terrible," I say, shaking my head, trying to fix my statement. She nodded and stood up, carrying a dirty breakfast plate to the kitchen.
"Don't you need to go to summer school?" She asked, placing the plate in the sink and turning to me. I nod, grabbing my last bite of toast and rushing upstairs. I grab my bag and comb my light brown hair, tossing the comb on my bed after.
I give my mom a quick hug and dart out the back door, grabbing my bike and starting towards my high school. With every pedal I grew more and more frustrated. My family was incredibly homophobic, if you even say the word 'gay' around them they'll flip. And yet here I was, still in the closet while I watch same-sex couples everywhere jumping from excitement and kissing their partners.
I can't deny my jealousy.
Finally I arrive at my school, locking my bike securely to the rack and entering the school. I make my way slowly to the gym arena where I was taking my PE credit a year in advance. Most of my friends were taking it during the year, but not me. I still had my junior credit left, and there was no way I was taking it over the school year. I arrive in the arena's rest area early (as usual) and walk into the bathrooms to change. I leave a few minutes later, having replaced my jeans and shirt for shorts and a t-shirt. I sit down, pulling my book out of my bag. As people start walking into the rest area they glance at me before moving on.
It was like this every day. I get here early, and get ignored while I wait for my one friend. No one wanted to be seen talking to me. The 'freak', the 'emo', the 'screw up'. All names from my biggest bully, who just so happened to be the school's wrestling champion.
Lucky, huh? First person to ever beat me up was a wrestler. My teacher calls us over at 10:00, signalling the begining of class. I groan, setting my book in my bag again as I walk towards the rest of my class.
The teacher begins talking, but I barely hear a word of it, instead focusing on trying to find my friend among the class. My search proved pointless as I feel a tap on my shoulder. I spin around, expecting to see my cousin, and instead see Tod standing there with a smirk on his face.
"Hey Nick," he greets quietly, avoiding the teacher's attention. "Hey Tod, what's the late excuse for today?" I ask, grinning. He shrugs.
"No idea yet. I need to talk to you though," he says, and I glance at him in concern. I open my mouth, about to ask him what's wrong, but at that exact moment our gym teacher claps, grabbing our attention.
"Alright kids, let's go run. Three laps!" He says loudly, and we file out the door to the track. Tod and I begin jogging slowly and I look to him.
"What do you want to talk about?" I ask. He bites his lip.
"I'm moving," he says quickly and quietly, I lean closer.
"What was that?" I ask, unable to hear him the first time.
"I'm moving. My dad got a job transfer, we're going to Florida," he says sadly, and I stare.
"What?" I ask, shocked. Florida was all the way across the country! Why would they be moved from Minnesota to Florida? He nods sadly.
"I'm sorry. We need to leave by Monday. Otherwise Dad could risk losing his job," he says sadly. I nod in understanding. Their family didn't have a lot of money before his dad got a job, and if he lost this one they could end up on the streets. But by Monday? That's insane! Why didn't they say anything till now? It's already Friday, they only have three days to pack up and leave.
"You'll have to invite me down sometime," I say, smiling as we finish our final lap as I try to lighten the mold. He laughs. "Definately, and I'll send you pictures," he says. I laugh and we line up for stretches.
The rest of the day was pretty normal. We played dodgeball, soccer, and volleyball, finishing earlier than usual thanks to our teacher having to leave early. I duck into the bathrooms to change back into my darker t-shirt and jeans around 11:30, and meet up with Tod next to the door.
"Ready for lunch?" He asks, and I nod. We start walking through the school, having already decided the nearby McDonalds was the best place to go eat today.
"So did you hear about gay marriage?" Tod asks, smirking. I nod excitedly.
"Yes! It's awesome!" I say happily, he laughs, elbowing my arm. "Calm down Dude," he says. I push his arm away.
"How am I supposed to calm down? This is huge news! Well I guess, not so much for you," I trail off, excitement still clear in my voice. He stuck his tongue out at me.
"I may be straight, but I am still an ally!" He laughs, then grins at me. "Anyway, congrats. Maybe now you can meet that boy of your dreams and finally marry him," he said, faking a dreamy voice as he pretended to imagine my perfect boyfriend. I shake my head, laughing at his strange fantasies. "You of all people know that I don't want to get married. Even if I do get a boyfriend," I say, rolling my eyes.
"A boyfriend?" A sneering voice said behind me, and I freeze. "You're not gay, are you Cuz?" The voice said, and my biggest bully (and only cousin) walked over to me.
"What? Of course not," I say quickly, trying to cover up my previous words.
"It wouldn't surprise me. The little emo, the family screw up, is gay," he spat the word as if it was poison, glaring at me victoriously. "I wish you'd stop calling me little," I groan, and he shakes his head.
"No can do. You're a 15 year old going into your junior year, you're still a little baby," he teased. "Leave him alone Eric," Tod said, stepping forward.
"Oh? And why should I do that?" He asked, challenging.
"Are you trying to protect little Nicky here? Maybe you're his secret boyfriend or something," he hissed, and Tod's eyes darkened. "I'm not his boyfriend, but I am his friend. You should know better than to pick on him while I'm around," he threatened, and Eric rolled his eyes.
"Oh yeah, the school's champion wrestler is scared of the school's biggest drama queen. That'll be the day," he bragged. Tod stepped forward again, and I could see he intended to fight. I grab his arm.
"Tod stop it. Let's just go," I say, pulling him away.
"You heard your boyfriend, go," Eric said, waving us away. We reach the doors and he runs past us, jumping in his already running car.
"Just wait till Aunt Ray hears about this!" He yelled out the window, and I watch, shocked as he drives away.
Aunt Ray.
He was going to tell my mom, the most homophobic person I know, that I'm gay.
"I'll call you later," I say to Tod, yanking my bike off the rack and jumping on, racing home as fast as I could. But not fast enough. I place my bike in the garage, creeping quietly into the house. "NICHOLAS!!!!!!" I hear my mom scream from upstairs. I wince, walking into my living room slowly.
"Yes Mom?" I ask nervously, noticing her, Eric, and my dad sitting there. She motioned for Eric to leave.
"Thank you Eric, you can go now," she said, and he left, smirking at me as he did. I stand in front of my parents, nervously playing with a string on my bag.
"Is everything ok?" I ask, pretending to not know what was going on.
"Is it true?" My mom asked, and I felt my heart beat faster.
"Is what true?"
"What Eric just said. Are you gay?" She asked, spitting the word at me. I fight the urge to chase Eric and punch him, instead I chew my lip, trying to figure out how to respond.
Eventually, I sigh. If I was going to pretend to be straight I should've started earlier, they'd never believe me now. I take a deep breath and nod.
"Yes, I am," I whisper. Mom's expression darkened, and my dad stood up and walked to stand in front of me.
"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't choose this! I didn't want to have to tell you this! I just wanted to be normal!" I say, panicking. My mom wrinkles her nose. "Disgusting. You're disgusting," she sneered, and I stare.
"M-Mom?" I ask nervously. She storms over and slaps me, rage showing clearly in her face.
"I am not your mother!"
"Dad?" I ask, hoping he'd help. Instead he glares.
"Get out. You need to be gone in a half hour," he growled. I back away, scared. As soon as I reached the hallway, I turned and ran. I arrived in my bedroom and grabbed my suitcase, throwing clothes and a few random objects into it. I grabbed some money and food, then stormed out the front door, slamming it behind me.
I stood there in the afternoon sun, realising I had nowhere to go.
Shit.
I pull out my phone, knowing the plan would be cancelled soon, and wrote down Tod's phone number. I slip that into my backpack and start walking. I don't know where I planned on going. I considered Tod's house, but they don't have a lot of money and were moving in a few days. I laugh bitterly to myself. We always thought he'd end up on the streets with his family, we never imagined I'd be there before him. I sign, slouching against the wall of a back alley. I'll find something soon. I can't go see my family, but I can live on my own. I have a lot of money from my last job. Unfortunately that job doesn't exist anymore and I'm too young to rent an apartment. For now I should probably just focus on not being mugged.
I sigh and pull my phone out, calling Tod to tell him what happened.