Not Your Average Ricky(Ella) Story

The older you get

A/N: mention of  death, slurs, and verbal and physical abuse

- Song to listen to while reading: The Older You Get (acoustic) by Daniel Seavey

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It's been a week since my encounter with E.J at the diner. Unfortunately, I still have to go to school. This Sunday is the 5-course meal dinner that I have to cook for and am not invited to.

If my mom were her she would teach me how to cook. I usually have Alexa read recipes off my phone to make it easier for my dyslexia.

I miss my mom so much.

My parents were on the verge of getting divorced before my mom passed away. My dad argued with her every time she got sick at home for making a mess in the bathrooms or kitchen after chemo. I saw my mom hold back tears and her pain. The only thing she had to hold onto was me. We were going to move to Chicago before she got diagnosed with breast cancer. I didn't want to leave my friends but I also didn't want to be around parents who argue all the time so I had no choice but to stay with one of them (My dad). I still got to visit my mom in the hospital many times though.

"Ricky, are you listening to a word I'm saying?" My friend, Carlos, from Home Ec class says to me while poking my shoulder with a pencil.

"Huh? What did you say?" I look up from my lunch that Nini bought for me because I don't have anything from home to bring.

"Are you entering the Live Nation competition? My boyfriend, Seb, and I are going to. And are you going to Prom? Kourtney and Ashlyn are getting a group of us together to rent a limo. What are you staring at that's more important than me?" Carlos looks over my shoulder since he is sitting next to me at lunch and sees what I've been staring at.

E.J Caswell is putting up posters for the Live Nation contest and talking to girls who are interested in entering the competition. There are at least 6 girls crowded around him asking questions.

Yeah, he has to be 100% straight.

"I'm not hungry anymore. I don't want to go to Prom either. I definitely don't want anyone to know about my home life situation. I think I'll pass on your offer, Carlos." I get up from the table the outcasts are eating at, and throw my food away in a nearby trash can.

As I walk down the hallway, I hear someone following me.

Oh no.

"Who's there?" I turn around and see no one behind me.

All of a sudden, someone grabs me by my hoodie hood and shoves me into a dark room.

"Stay away from my girlfriend's bathroom, faggot. She told me about how you took her nail polish from her bathroom. You deserve to die like your mother did. What are you gay or trans?," I watch him slam me into a cabinet full of cleaning supplies, kick me hard in the stomach with his boot, and press his boot onto my dick.

He's wearing a football jersey and tight shorts. Oh, he's one of those guys like E.J is.

I can't help but feel helpless and like a loser again.

"Maybe next time, I'll come back and kill you in this closet. Don't ever get near the twins again. They've told me about how you ruined their mom's wedding and their lives. You piece of shit," I watch the guy leave me on the floor against a cabinet in pain.