Small Town Boy

Chapter 11

The room was silent for a good few seconds. How? How did he know? He hadn't said my name, but it wouldn't be hard to trace that information back to me. Hell, he was staring right at me when he'd said it. I sat frozen. Some faces stopped staring at Reed, shifting their gaze to me. A few smirked. 

Then Parker started to get up. 

"STOP!" I yelled, grabbing onto the back of his shirt. I pulled with all my strength, but he was stronger. 

"Landon. Get off me." Parker said through gritted teeth. 

"Ooo look," Reed smirked. "The faggot is too weak to stop his own brother fighting his fights for him." 

Well if anyone hadn't known who he was referring to earlier, they knew now. Parker responded to this by eventually sitting down, realizing he was proving Reed right by trying to confront him. 

"Is anyone else a bit uncomfortable with him in the room?" Reed asked the team. A few hands went up. I looked around. Grayson. Christian. Ryder. More and more started popping up. Sam. Ethan. Guys who I thought were decent. At least half the team raised their hand. 

"Look at what you've done." Reed spat at me. "Keep your hand up if you think he should be kicked off." 

A few dropped down, but there were still about ten remaining. 

"Well. I guess some might be scared of putting themselves forward, but I think it is pretty clear you should go. Wait until Owen finds out about this." He smirked. 

"He already knows," I mumbled, finding a voice I didn't know was inside me. 

"What? Is he a faggot too? I thought he had a girlfriend earlier this year." Reed responded, a bit stunned. 

"No, he's just not an asshole like you," Parker said, each word iced with venom. 

"What? You as well? I would have thought you might be more concerned about what's wrong with your own brother." Reed asked his voice firm, his eyes fixed on Parker's. 

"There is nothing wrong with him," Parker said in a low voice, almost a growl. 

"If there wasn't anything wrong, why would he hide it?" Reed smirked, his gaze sweeping around the room. At this point, I was just scared. I was other things too, hurt, confused, and worried, but that was all eclipsed by the fear I felt. Reed may have been doing all the talking, but there were others in here that believed the same things as him. The focus, however, wasn't on me. Not directly. I was glad about that, but at the same time slightly concerned that Parker was escalating it. I knew he didn't mean to, but I just wanted this to all end. I wanted to be able to go home, fall on my bed, and cry myself to sleep. 

"I'm sure there are things that you don't tell other people," Parker said, his eyes still pointed right at Reed. "Even if they aren't bad." 

"Don't you think it's a bit unfair to the rest of us? None of us realized we were being stared at every time we walked in here." Reed asked, looking around the room to see if anyone else agreed with him. He got a few nods, mostly from those who had already said they wanted me gone, but they weren't the only ones. 

"Dude grow up," Aiden interjected from where he was sitting at the other end of the locker room. "That might be the stupidest thing you've said today, and you've said a lot of dumb shit." 

"Everything I've said has been a fact." Reed snapped back at him. "Why are you even getting involved on the faggot's side anyway? You're supposed to be one of the leaders of this team."

"I'm pretty sure that actually involves doing the right thing," Aiden argued. "Which I am." 

"How is defending that pervert doing the right thing by the team?" Reed spat. He pointed at me as he spoke, his face glowing red with anger.