Above The World (BoyxBoy)

CHAPTER 1

My alarm was blaring. I wanted to grab it and toss it through my bedroom window. Instead, I just pressed the snooze button and pulled the covers over my head. Soon after, my mom came in and pulled them off of me.

"Time to get up sweetie."

"Ugh," I groaned.

I was never a morning person, especially not this day. It was moving day. We were leaving our San Francisco home that I had lived in my whole life. Our new destination: Portland, Oregon. I had never been and wasn't looking forward to going now. I had fought the move for months before finally realizing that my opinion wasn't a factor in my parents' decision. We had been in the process of moving for weeks. Most of our furniture was in Portland already so I knew there was no turning back.

"Today's the day!" She sounded much more excited than I was.

"Don't remind me," I said as I sluggishly slid out of bed.

Her big green eyes looked disappointed. "Don't be that way, Clay. You know this move is what we need right now."

I hated it when she used the word "we" like I really had a say in anything. Dad had just lost his job in San Francisco and Portland would be a "smart" move for the family. I didn't want to leave though. It was the middle of my senior year and all my friends were in San Francisco. Sometimes I felt like my parents didn't even consider what was best for me.

"I heard it rains a lot there," I said in another attempt to convince Mom that this move was a bad idea.

"You'll get used to it," replied Mom, "Now get dressed and come help with boxes."

Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to do, help move boxes when my world was slowly falling apart beneath me. My parents did not understand me at all.

I went into my bathroom and stared at myself for a while. My strawberry blonde hair was untamed and my eyes were red around my blue irides. I undressed for a shower and stared at myself in the mirror again. I glanced at my pale and skinny body, but looked away in disappointment. I showered quickly and headed downstairs after putting on some crappy jeans and a v-neck t-shirt. I looked a mess but I didn't care. I wasn't in an attractive mood. There were so many boxes in our living room I could barely find my way around. The moving truck was already parked out in front of the house, waiting to haul all of our stuff away.

Another reason that I regreted leaving was Tony. Tony and I met in 9th grade through some mutual friends. It was right around the time when I was discovering my sexuality. I was extremely confused and I guess you could say that Tony helped me realize what I wanted. The first thing that caught my attention about Tony was his gorgeous smile and big green eyes. He was a definite charmer, and girls were crazy about him, but he never even looked twice at them. When we first got together, I felt like I was in a dream. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. We had been off-and-on ever since. The last few months we hadn't been as close as before though. I refused to accept the fact that we were growing apart, even though that is obviously what was happening. Even though our relationship wasn't as strong as it had been, I didn't want to end it by moving to another city.

I hadn't even said all of my goodbyes yet. I asked Mom could I go see some friends before we left. She agreed to let me borrow her car, which was the least she could do after totally ruining my life!

I bolted out of the house, hopped into the car, and headed towards Lauren's house. Lauren was my absolute bestfriend, and had been since we were kids. She was there through every awkward stage, breakup, and emotional breakdown that I ever had. I was there for her just as much. I even held her hair back when she puked her guts out at Brittany Talewood's sweet 16. Good times.