Paper Hearts (boyxboy)

Homo Confession Hour

Noah:

Andrew grips my hand tight. "It's not too late to turn around and spend all day at home. And maybe tomorrow. And every other day after that until graduation."

I give him a look. "We've been doing that for too long. We have to do this."

"But why? These are the people that falsely elected you as prom king, all just to elaborately humiliate us."

"Hey, prank or not, I'm keeping that crown." I point at him. "Besides, not every person in this school is responsible for that. It's just a few idiots, who says we have to pay them any mind?"

"They may not have all been in on it, but they all laughed."

I take a breath and look at the doors. He's right, I can't even argue with that. "All the same, we have to finish school. If your grades slip, you could lose your scholarship."

He rolls his eyes at me. "Let's face it Noah, I'm probably going to miss out on valedictorian. That ship has sailed."

"Fine, be a quitter about it, but either way, we have to finish."

"Alright, fine, let's do this." With that, we both get up out of our seats close the doors. From the trunk, he hands me my crutch and we start heading towards the school. The stretch of pavement from the Corvette to the west doors feels like a thousand miles long. We keep our eyes straight forward as we push through the people gathered out front. They're silent, for the most part. I don't dare look into any of their faces, just push through the big swinging doors and into the hallway. I grab Andy's hand and squeeze it, limping all the way past the gym and the cafeteria, starting to get tired by the time we pass the theatre room. He's walking slowly for me, helping me keep my balance as we make our way to the lockers.

Andrew stops at my locker and starts to put in the combo for me, then shoves a few books into both of our bags. After that, we start heading for the stairs, my new everest.

"Hey! It's the faggots!" Some guy laughs. "I thought you guys had died or something."

We ignore him, crutching along down the hall. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" He yells back, desperate for attention, clearly.

"Drewy! Noah!" We hear Sara call from the other direction. She's waving at us from under the stairs, talking to some guy.

"Hey." Andy waves back, softly answering her as we continue along. She sort-of breaks off from her conversation, walking over to us.

"Where've you guys been?" She asks, coming in closer. "We've been worried sick." I stop to adjust my crutch and she notices how shitty I look. "Jesus, what happened?"

Andy looks around. "Noah was in a hit-and-run. We've sort of been... staying home."

She clutches her mouth. "Oh god, that's awful! Are you okay?"

I nod, smiling. "Yeah, of course, I'm totally fine, man. My knee's just a little sore, but I'm good."

"That's a relief."

I stumble forward, my crutch falling beneath me. "You deaf or something?" The same kid grunts as he pushes me from behind.

Before I can even get to my feet, Andy is pinning him against the wall by his neck. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" People walking by stop to gawk at the scene, a crowd slowly forming around us. Sara helps me up quickly before grabbing his arm and begging him to let go of the guy.

"Drew, you're going to get yourself expelled." She whispers to him.

His face contorts angrily. "Fuck that. Did the guys who dumped Kool Aid on us at a school event get expelled? Did they even get in trouble?" He looks around at the faces gathered about, no one responding. "That's what I thought. So fuck it if I get expelled, right? This prick called me names, disrespected the two of us, and then shoved my injured boyfriend. This is it. This is where I draw the fucking line."