The Brave and Beautiful

Kiss and Tell

Adam's POV

David's words echoed in my head, him saying that there may be a camera in 236's locker. I race from my locker, all the way down to The Lost Hallway, sprinting there. People watch as I do so, but I don't care. I open the door to the hallway, and race down the stairs. I see the locker, running forward, but out comes a figure from the other side of the hallway. I jump, startled, but realize it's only Hope.

"What are you doing here?' She asks, trying to act nonchalant. 

"Oh... nothing" I mutter. We stand there, silent for a few seconds, then suddenly, we burst. We both hit the locker, over and over, or trying to break off the lock. Because of all the commotion, something falls  to the ground that was obviously clipped to the top of the locker.

"Ah-Ha!" Hope says, pointing at it. It's a camera. We both leave it on the ground, and look up at each other with a fake smile. Then back down at the camera. My hand reaches for it the same seconds Hope does. Both of our hands land on it, and we begin a tug of war fight over a small camera. I'm stronger, so I pull it out of her hand. "Hey!" She screams.

"I GOT IT!" I yell.

"Why do you even want it?!" Hope asks. Why does she want it. This camera must have a video of me kissing James. I don't want that all over the place. Surely my reason is more important. If Hope gets this, she'll see me and James, and know I'm gay.

"Why do you want it!?" I ask, sounding like a baby.

"Well, you may find this hard to believe, but I kissed someone I shouldn't have down here. I don't want the kiss to get in the wrong hands" She says, ashamed. Suddenly, I don't feel so bad. The same thing happened to me.

"Same" I admit.

"Really!? What. Who did you kiss? Please don't tell me it was Liz, because I may barf in my mo-"

"James." I say. She stops in her tracks. "I kissed James"

"Oh" She whispers, instantly quieting up. "I didn't know th-"

"I know you didn't know, because I'm to scared to say it"

"Adam, don't hide something like that"

"I don't know how to say it..."

"Don't tell me..."

"Yup. 236 knows alright"

"I'm sorry" She pauses, looking like she's in pain. "You keep the camera" 

"What!" I think. How nice of her. But I can't accept. "No, Hope, I think you should keep it"

"Trust me, you should. I should own up to what I did. I kissed Josh while he was dating Izzy. I mean, he went in for it, but I never pulled away in time. I wanted it. I should just tell Izzy..." I sighed.

"Hope, you know Izzy won't be mad"

"I know. I think the reason I'm so scared to say it is because I haven't gotten a 236 text about it. I'm so accustomed to having a reason to tell people my wrongs, because I don't want someone else to say it first. So, when it doesn't happen, I feel like I can just lie my way through it all"

"What I say is, go tell Izzy right now. And about the date you went on with Josh" I smiled. 

"How did you know about that?!" She gasps.

"I may have read your note while we were studying the roses. You left it wide out in the open!"

"Okay, Okay. Thanks for the advice" Hope said. She turned around to leave, but then turned to face me again. "Adam... stay true to yourself"