Cuckoo (Sequel to Outlaws Of Love)

Eleven

*Tommy's POV*

Back in school, waiting for something— or someone— to make my life worse. It wasn't very hard. The fact that we could've gotten a snow day today but didn't just left me in a bad mood from the start. And then, the snow was so high even in the parking lot that my ankles and feet are wet and cold. The stupid dryer broke too so I had to hang up Adam's sweatshirt to dry, and since it was laying damp in the appliance that even by the time this morning it wasn't dry enough to wear.

So now not only do I not have my comfort of Adam, I'm chilled and annoyed. It doesn't help that I didn't get to finish all of my homework that I had to make up, save for a few classes, and I'm coming in late again to one of the classes that I pushed aside the piles of work. The door wasn't quite shut yet and I saw the teacher standing at another room down the hall, his back facing me. I figured I could sneak in without getting noticed, slipping through the cracked door and casually walking down the isle of lab desks to my seat in the back. I thought I was in the clear, but there was that hole in my path of relief.

"Ratliff!" a familiar, scratchy and disgusting voice called to me. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to just keep going. "Why are you coming in late this time, huh?" Collin proceeded, picking up his chair and slamming it down next to mine, sitting back down with the back against his purging stomach. "Needed a quickie before school?" he hissed with poison, narrowing his eyes.

"Why don't you just shut the FUCK. UP!" I shouted, rising in my chair to yell in his face with utter rage. I felt my own eyes searing with loathing, my heart bubbling with hate against this kid that dare say that about me, indirectly mentioning Adam. His eyes widened, totally shocked, and everyone snapped their heads to look at me like "What the hell is this guy doing?"

Collin's eyes grew and he started to say something but, lucky for him, just then our teacher comes bursting in, face hard with anger.

"Ratliff, office," he cut his words, staring me down as I clenched my fists, wavering my sight between the two males I loathed at the moment. "Ratliff!" he called again with impatience, gesturing towards the door.

I held my breath to bite back another remark, and pushed out of my seat, purposefully knocking into Collin on my way, causing him to swing his arm back and elbow me in my side with enough force to send me into the other table. That was it. In my adrenaline packed character, I shoved him in the back, making the chair legs fall underneath him, sending him to the hard ground. That set off Mr. Greene and he came into the room, gripping my arm to drag me out to the hall with him. I yanked it back, muttering senseless words of spite as I forced myself to the principles'. Mr. Greene kept his hand by my shoulder, every now and then nudging me when I would stray to the side or slow down.

God, why do I have to get the bad end? It wasn't me who started anything! All I did was walk in. But no, of course blame it on the different kid! The idiot jock football player never does anything wrong! He's just so perfect and too smart for that!

Oh give me a break! The stupid school system sucks. They're nothing but liars and old students themselves that want it to be like their own fantasy, molding what they want and getting rid of the rest. Because who wants a gay kid that actually fights for himself, hmm? Or people who aren't afraid to use their voices to expose the truth about the school's precious little sports team? Mr. Rikzer was just one of the board's puppets. And then the teachers are his minions. We students are test subjects— we mean the most, evidently. People like me, however, are just the problems that need to be fixing. Hence the reason why I'm being shoved down to the office right now.

My rage was subsiding, but my emotions were still on a high. I instantly slowed down to a depressed walk instead of an angered stomp. What would Adam think of this? I knew that he wants Collin put in his place, but would he not want me to risk my safety to defend him or me? There was something that set me off when I thought someone had mentioned Adam in a bad way. It was worse than actually telling me off directly to my face.