Oleander

Chapter 4

Oleander : The Most Loved

Oleander laughed with his friends as they recounted all the stupid things they ended up doing last night. They told Oleander how he had missed an epic night at Eric Von's house. He gulped and smiled uneasily. Last night he had cried till he fell asleep in the comfort of his little sister's arms before he woke up to watch his father carry Caroline away from him. Tom hadn't even looked his way proving that he was not ready to accept him - at all. But what about his friends? Would they accept him? His pulse raced. What if they don't?

"Hey guys" his friends immediately stopped what they were doing and listened intently to what it was he was about to say. Darren looked at him with squinted eyes before it widened. He shook his head slightly as if warning him, but Oleander took no heed.

"I need to tell you something important" he took a huge gulp of air before those words tumbled out from his lips. "I'm gay."

The reactions were variegated to say it simply. There was shock, disgust, disbelief, discomfort, mocking laughter at the unbelievable. "You're joking" some of them said laughing but secretly hoping he really was.

"No it's the truth and I'm tired of hiding it."

There was a hush for the first time at their table. No one said a word as they stared at him. Jack Gleeson banged the table suddenly making everyone's attention divert. "What the fuck? You're a faggot now? How much more attention could you want?" he said bitterly. Jack had always had a mean side but what amazed Oleander was that it was the first time Jack's words hurt him so much.

No one rose to Oleander's defense, not even his best friend and it tore him apart.  He looked around. Most of them refused to look him in the eye while the rest of them looked at him with malice and a hint of smugness. Why hadn't he noticed before that the people he called his friends were just hungry wolves waiting for him to get his antlers stuck in thorny branches. Even his most faithful friends seemed to have abandoned him.

Deep in his heart he had believed that no matter what, people would always accept him for the way he was. He was Oleander Hartley, the most loved wasn't he? Or had he always been living in a fantasy. He now believed he was.

"Well if you can't accept me for who I truly am than I think you were never my friends" he said and looked pointedly at Darren who looked at him pleadingly. "I thought you were better than this" he said bitterly before he grabbed his bag and exited the once cheerful cafeteria. His head throbbed but not more than his beating heart. It was broken but it still thumped rhythmically.

Everything was looking dull and colourless now to Oleander. He understood that he had been looking at his life through rose-colored glasses. It was time to take them off and see with his own naked eyes. To see how the world was only black and white with hints of grey hiding in the shadows.