Phil’s POV
I stood outside waiting for Dan. I knew we had to face everybody, but I really didn’t want to. I knew how the school system works. If you’re gay, you’re either the really cool gay who’s just happy and hyper all the time, who everyone loves. If you’re not him, you’re the gay who everyone insults at or beats up in the hallway. And I already knew who I was.
I was literally afraid of going back, mostly because I had no idea of how the class would treat me now. I started panicking a little, but then I saw Dan walking out the front door to his house. I had totally forgotten he was by my side all the way, which instantly made me calmer. When he saw me, he smiled. It was impressive how his smile could make me feel like it was the first time I ever saw it, because every time he smiled at me that way, the same ticklish warm feeling ran through my stomach. I smiled back at him, because I couldn’t help it. Even if I tried not to, I would just smile goofily to him. He came over and took a hold of my hands and kissed me passionately on the lips. We both smiled into the kiss. We split and he looked me in the eyes.
“You ready?” he asked.
And the nervousness came back. I had just forgotten about it. My smile disappeared, but I nodded to him and faked a smile.
“No… I don’t want to see that.”he said to me.
“What?” I asked stupidly, even though I knew what he was talking about.
“You know. Look, I’m just as scared as you are right now, but we have to act cool about it, and just keep our heads high, like we don’t give a shit about their opinions. Ok?” he said and looked me serious in the eyes.
I nodded.
“Ok.”
We walked down the hallway. We had decided to start out with not kissing, hugging, holding hands and so on, until we felt comfortable doing it here. We had also decided to just act cool and casually talk, but we suddenly had nothing to talk about. I knew I only had one thing on mind, and that was the thought of how terrified I was right now. We just walked down the hallway in silence, while the other students were staring. It wasn’t much staring though, but some of them saw us, and then turned around to gossip, probably about us.
Dan opened the door to the classroom, and there came the judging looks. Everyone stared. They didn’t stop chatting, but they stared. I just looked down the ground, and tried avoiding everyone. We sat down at our seats quietly. I started shaking. Dan must’ve noticed, because he laid his hand on top of mine and stroked it. I smiled to him, and he smiled back. But then Jeffrey and Mike stepped inside the classroom, laughing about something, and Dan’s hand was gone. They stared at Dan, and he stared back. Then Dan looked down at his schoolbooks and they walked to their seats.
Suddenly something grabbed me from behind. I was almost about to scream, so scared was I. But then I realized it was a hug that came from behind, and the sweet scent of perfume made me realize it was Carrie. A thrill of joy rushed through me, ‘cause I had totally forgotten there also was a friendly soul in class. She actually kind of saved Dan’s life, which also saved mine automatically. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have gone over at Dan’s house to talk things through, so I had never been happier to see Carrie. I gave her the biggest smile and stood up to hug her. She hugged me back tightly.
“Oh my god, I’ve missed you so much! I’m so happy your back!” she said.
“I’ve missed you too.” I told her.
“We need to arrange a date for us, I really need to talk properly with you.” she said.
“Yeah, of course.”
