fly away with me

xo

"Hey Max!"

"Max! What's up dude?"

"Hey bro, how's it going?"

The all to familiar voices of my friends caught my attention. I carried myself and my fifty pound backpack, in their direction. I asked myself why I was doing this. Forcing myself to hangout with people like them; talking trash about anyone they could in their free time. I guess they had nothing better to do.

Our high school was much like the ones you would read or hear about in movies like Mean Girls or Clueless. Cliques and all. It was a toxic place to be, someone always seeming to be getting beat up every place you turn. Jocks separated from nerds and the gay kids, but of course, standing close with the cheerleaders. I was considered a jock.

Yeah, In fifth grade I dated Noah.. but I never really had any feelings for any other boy since he'd left. So I came to a conclusion that I had been mistaken. I think. But it didn't really matter.

"Hey babe!"

I had a girlfriend after all.

"Hey Katherine," I replied, grabbing her waist and pulling her into a kiss. My tongue exploring her mouth. I wasn't sure what I was doing. I didn't even care for dating, especially with someone like Katherine. I guess I just didn't want to start drama.

"Damn Katherine, lookin' like that, I wouldn't just be kissing you in public." Markus commented, looking her up and down. Katherine pulled away from my kiss. Turning around and flipping Markus off. I sighed, staring down at the ground and entering a daydream. Every sound was muffled around me, all I could hear was my breath. That was until I was interrupted by a bump in the shoulder. My eyes shot up, staring at the male who had bumped into me.

It was if he had entered my dream, everything around us, blocked out. He had a frail frame, curly brown hair and dark eyes. Not to mention his freckled face, that just screamed beautiful. He was pretty.

"Uh?" The boy snapped me out of my trance. I'd realized I'd been gawking at his appearance for about the past minute. How embarrassing.
"Sorry for-"

"Ah- No, it's okay." I cut him off, still staring at him. His eyes averted away from mine and he began to walk away. "Hey wait." I called out, hoping he'd turn around. But he didn't seem to catch my voice. I prepared to head over his way but before I could was stopped by a weak grip on my hand. Of course, Katherine. I tugged my arm away, and without looking back began to tread over his way.

I realized he was walking towards the gay kids, my heart beating quicker. "Wait up!" I shouted. He didn't turn around and I began to get frustrated. My feet moved faster, the leaves crunching underneath my sneakers. " Hey Fuh.. Hey Faggot!"

Fuck.

I stopped at the same time he did, watching him turn around and make a face that asked if I was talking to him. I regret letting the slur roll off my tongue, cursing myself mentally as he stormed over towards me.

"What'd you say?" He said. It was obvious he had clearly heard what I said. I shook my head, opening my mouth to speak.

"I didn't-"

"No, it's okay. Totally fine." A sarcastic tone is what he gave me. He kept rambling on and on. I tried to come up with an excuse.

"Noah!" I said loudly, catching his attention. His looked taken aback.

"Excuse me?" He questioned.

I stared at him, resting my hands on his shoulders. I took a deep breath, grinning like an idiot. "It's me.. your boyfriend."

"You're gay?!" A shriek of disbelief came from behind me. I spun around taking in the shocked looks of each of my friends.

"No? No." I said shakily. I was lying to them, and myself. I don't know why I couldn't just accept it.

"Then why'd you call him your boyfriend?" Markus called out, raising his chin at the curly headed boy. I didn't know what to say. I was about to lose everything.

"He's just a friend." I quickly reply, trying to make myself seem as believable as possible.

"So you're friends with a faggot then?" Katherine scoffed. I was done. Yes I would lose everything, but I'm honestly sick of the name calling.

"You know what Katherine? Why are you so judgmental? Are you that insecure? We're all human, and if you can't accept that, then we're done. We're over." I sighed, watching her face go cold. I turned around seeing as the boy had fled. "Fuuuck," I groaned.

...

During lunch, I decided that I'd try to find him. I didn't think I had any other choice, I'd just lost all my friends after all.

I walked through the rows of tables, already receiving nasty stares and comments. I ignored them of course, continuing my search for the curly headed boy. I finally came across a table. All the gay kids sat there I guess. I took a seat next to a boy wearing a bunch of rainbow stuff. "Hey do you know um.." I started, forgetting I never got the male's name.

"Why're you sitting here?" He looked at me weirdly, realizing not everyone knew I was gay.

"Ah- No.. I'm," My voice trailed off, noticing the boy I had previously met, walking into the cafeteria. He walked towards the table and I hid my face as he took a seat in front of me.
"Hey." I grinned, uncovering my face and examining his freckled face. He flinched, glancing over at me with a face that showed he was surprised.

"What- Oh it's you! I.. Um, about earlier. I didn't mean to get you in trouble with your friends-"

I cut him off, laughing. "I'm not here because of that. I just wanted your name." I said, resting my head on my hand. He avoided my eyes.

"It's Wyatt." He said quietly, and I felt my heart drop. I took a deep breath, biting the inside of my cheek.

"I'm Max." I replied, playing connect the dots with his freckles inside my head. "Do you wanna hangout after school? I have a reservation for a cat cafe and have an extra spot." I pulled out the tickets. To be honest, I was gonna go with Katherine, but obviously I can't do that anymore. So why not? Wyatt's face lit up at the word cat, and oh my god, it was the cutest thing.

"I can come?" Wyatt asked, his bottom lip caught between his teeth. I nodded, smiling widely.

...

"Max look at this one!" Wyatt was crouched down, his knees brought up to his chest, petting a black cat. I sat criss cross next to him, stroking the cat. "Isn't she cute?" He asked. I glanced over at his face, taking in everything. From the way his nose crinkled when he smiled, to how he looked at the cat as if it was the most precious thing on this Earth. Little did he know, he was the most precious- Woah I'm so gay. I'd just met him a day ago, but he reminded me so much of Noah. What could I do?

"Max?" His voice sounded, breaking me out of the trance he put me in. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Ah- Sorry." I smiled, resting my head in the palm of my hand, staring into his eyes. "Yeah, he is pretty cute." The way Wyatt looked at me, showed he was confused.

"It's a girl." He replied, and I nodded.

"I know." I flashed a toothy grin, noting how his cheeks flushed a pretty pink color.

"I thought you would be.. mean." He said, biting the bottom of his lip.

"Why?" I knew why. It was because of the people I hung around with, Katherine and them. I don't blame him. They went around terrorizing everyone in that school. It was disgusting.

"Well you hang out with Markus.. he used to bully me and my friends a lot." He said quietly. I do recall what Markus had done. Chucking food at them, throwing them up against lockers, mocking them. God, it makes me angry just thinking about it.

"I'm sorry, I should've stepped in and told him to stop-"

"No, it's okay. You couldn't have done anything to stop him. Once he has his mind focused on a task, he won't quit until it's done." Wyatt frowned, looking over at me. I sighed, he wasn't wrong. I'd tried to tell him to take it easy on this kid he was beating up, he didn't listen, it only made things worse. "You're a good guy, Max." His eyes met my own and I smiled. He looked away.

"Do you need a ride home?"

"No, I can take the bus. Thanks though, I'll see you tomorrow."

And off he went.