It's OK

Chapter 18

Danny met up with Adam at the gates the next day. "Hey, why didn't you want me to meet you at your house?" Danny asked, confused.

"I do but I'm on house arrest. Dad says he doesn't want to see me with you,," Adam explained.

"Ok. Well we should probably get to class," Danny suggested. Adam smiled and they walked into English. They decided to skip lunch and went to their spot on the stairs. Danny smiled as Adam leaned his head on his shoulder. Danny smiled and brought Adam's face to his own.

"I love you," Danny replied, kissing Adam sweetly. At that moment they heard the click of a camera. Adam pulled away from Danny and looked around.

"There," Danny said, pointing at Randy who smiled while holding a camera.

"I really don't care anymore," Adam stated, looking dully at Randy.

"It'll be ok. If nothing happens after a few days then he only took it to scare us," Danny replied with a smile. They watched as Randy ran off and laughed.

"He did a shit job at scaring us!" Adam laughed. Danny smiled and flipped the space where Randy had stood off.

A few weeks passed without anything interesting happening. The days were almost the same. The kids' words seemed to hurt less the more he heard them. Charlie had begun to talk to them again. Things were slowing down and settling. Adam had just begun to think that he could keep up this charade without his parents finding out. However, at 3 in the morning he heard his mother scream. Adam jumped out of bed and ran downstairs.

"What's wrong mom?" he asked.

"Someone was throwing eggs. Adam...tell me the mailbox isn't true!" she demanded, her voice low and harsh. She looked out the window as if seeing a ghost.

"What?" Adam asked, confused at her tone. Her eyes were angry and scared. Adam looked out the window and saw his gray mailbox, plattered with a word written in red, "faggot."

"Who did that?" Adam asked, his voice shaking.

"More importantly, is it true?" she asked, her voice a whisper. Adam's throat went dry. He wanted to run as fast as he could to his room. His mother looked at him. Her anger began to fade into fear.

"Mom please don't tell dad," Adam begged.

"Oh my God!" she yelled. She was shaking. "How could you do this? Who infected you?"

"Excuse me?" Adam asked, growing annoyed.

"You weren't....a week ago! So when did it start? Who did this to you?" she asked, her voice low and frantic.

"No one! It's always been me! Are you serious right now mom?" he demanded. He was fuming with anger.

"What's all the yelling?" his father's gruff voice erupted from the stairs. "Do you have any idea how early it is?"

"Mom please," Adam begged. "If you care about me even a little bit then please don't tell him!" His mother looked at him with confusion, as if being gay meant you didn't feel fear or desperation.

"What's going on?" his father asked, finally getting to the bottom of the stairs.

"Dad," Adam started, his eyes wide in fear.

"It was nothing. I thought I saw a mouse," his mother answered, looking at the ground. Adam had never loved his mother more.

"Well what the hell Sofie! Don't yell at 3 in the morning again!" his father scolded as he went back to bed.

"Thanks mom," Adam breathed, hugging his mom for the first time in years. His mother shook him off.

"You have a week to get this fixed. I can't cover for you and I can't get blamed for this," she said.

"Mom. It's not a disease. It's me! It's always been me," Adam explained. His mother shook her head.

"That's not how your father feels. You should know how he feels about gays. Don't you remember grandma? She was run down by that gay man who had been drinking too much that night," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but if he's going to hate the man that killed her by his sexuality then he might as well blame the drink too, since that was the actual culprit!" Adam replied angrily.

"Just stop it Adam! It's too early in the morning for this! I can't listen to this anymore. No wonder you stopped going to church," she sighed.

"I stopped going because you stopped taking me. As dad had said when Gran died, 'If we can't go as a family then we don't go,'" Adam explained. He stormed to his room and threw the covers over his head. He sent Danny a text: "My mom found out."