Art Museum

BOOK ELEVEN

Isabel decided to sit with Joshua and his friends at lunch everyday. Months pass by as Isabel, Joshua, Daisy, Charlie, Bryan, Jimmy, Megan, Veronica, James, and Tiffany all grow closer together as a group of friends. Sharing secrets, personal stories, hanging out with each other after school, doing activities that teenagers usually do with a group of friends. It was Isabel's first group of friends and she seemed to get close to Joshua, Daisy and Charlie the most. Those were her best friends of the group.
It was a Monday as Isabel and Charlie scheduled to hang out after school. They had met up outside of the school building. "Hey Isa!" "Hey Chars!" The two friends had walked to the park and began swinging on the swings when they arrived. "Hey, so um, Isa, can I talk to you about something?" "Of course Charlie, you know I'm always here for you, what's going on?" "Well, as you know, I'm gay, but I don't really know how to bring it up to my parents, I mean I'm sure they have their suspicions, but I feel so guilty keeping this huge part of my life a secret. I'm so scared to tell my father, he's not the type to like the people of the LGBTQ plus community. He'd see gay men on TV and say "That's not what Jesus wanted" and it hurts me so bad you know, and I just wanted to talk to someone about how I feel. I know you probably don't understand because you're straight, but you're one of my best friends and I really need some advice" "Look Charlie, I'm not going to lie to you and say that coming out is something easy to do. It's going to be hard to work up enough courage in order to do so, it will take a lot of time, however, you have a strong support system, you have people such as myself, who care about you so much despite your sexual preference, your race, whatever the case may be, we love you for who you are, anyone who can't see how amazing of a person you are is blind, you're a talented person and an amazing friend. If you ever feel you need to talk to someone with more experience though, you can always call The Trevor Project hotline. They provide services for members of the LGBTQ plus community, if you ever need advice from qualified people, you can rely on calling that hotline. Just remember to keep supportive people on your side. You are loved Charlie" "Thank you for your kind words Isabel, I'll look into this Trevor Project hotline, thank you again" "Don't mention it, if you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to call me, as I said, I'm always going to be here for you Charlie, I hope all works out for you. I hope your parents can be supportive of who you are." "Yeah, me too, I hope they love me enough to overlook the fact that I'm gay. But anyway, let's have some fun Isa!" The two friends proceeded to hang out in the park.

The Trevor Project: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/ (866-488-7386)
You are loved.