The Epitome of Me

Chapter Nine: Social Suicide

The next week passed so quickly, it was as if the earth decided to spin twice as fast as normal. Before any of us realized it, it was Friday. I stood by Alex's locker after last period, waiting for her to show. As the hallway cleared, I saw her purple hair swaying behind her, and I smiled. "Hey stranger," I said when she stopped in front of me.

"Hey loser," she replied, a smirk on her lips. "I like your shorts." She winked. I glanced down at the shorts she had given me a week ago, blushing slightly. It was a momentous occasion, so I wore something of hers for luck.

"I thought it was fitting for me to wear them when I asked you to be my girlfriend, officially," I said with much more confidence than I felt inside. Now it was her turn to blush, and she went as red as a tomato.

"Okay," Alex whispered, suddenly dipping her head to kiss me. It was sweet and wonderful and—

"Fags!" A boy coughed, shoving Alex's shoulder as he passed by. Her eyes narrowed and she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. I was shocked at her anger. I forgot that she wasn't always the smiling goddess that she showed me she was.

"What did you just say?" She growled, slamming the boy against her locker. He looked amused, rather than afraid. He must have had a death wish. 

"You heard me," Alex swung her fist into his face so fast that he didn't have time to flinch, but I did. I didn't feel bad for him, though. The asshole deserved whatever she had in store for him.

"That's for being an ignorant son of a bitch," then she kneed him in the crotch and he keeled over onto the floor. "And that's for showing it." The boy was crying now. He stared up at us, perplexed.

"And just so you know," I cut in, linking my fingers into Alex's. "A fag is a bundle of sticks. If you happen to ever come across one, feel free to have someone flog you with it." With that, we turned in unison and walk out of the school. I stopped off to the side and dropped her hand. "People like him are the reason why we can't be out." I scowled.

"Hell no!" Alex shouted, stopping to look at me. "People like him are the reason why we should be out. Him being a homophobic twat shouldn't dissuade us from being together, J. Fuck that, I'm not ashamed to be your girlfriend. Are you ashamed to be mine?" There was a fire in her eyes that I could only describe as justice. I shook my head hard.

"Of course not, I really like you." I was in shock. We had gone from Alex being so afraid of labels that we almost didn't end up together, to jumping headfirst into being 'girlfriends'.

"Good, because I really like you too." She said, interlocking our fingers again. The smile that spread across my lips hurt my face, but I didn't care. We stood in the middle of the courtyard, staring into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity. And then I heard Elgin's voice dragging us out of our trance.

"Are you two lovebirds ready to go, or are you just going to stand there and gawk at each other forever?" I pretended to contemplate the idea, looking at Alex intently. She stared back knowingly.

"She has pretty eyes," I shrugged, turning to walk with Elgin. Alex fell in step beside me, still holding my hand.

"Wow, I'm hurt," Elgin said sarcastically. "I thought I had pretty eyes!" Alex chuckled and patted his shoulder in fake comfort. 

"Don't worry Pyre, your eyes are beautiful." She winked, glancing at me and rolling her eyes.

"See, leech, at least locksmith thinks I'm pretty. I thought you were my friend!" I laughed and jumped on Elgin's back, planting a big, wet kiss on his cheek.

"I wuv you, Elgy Welgy," I could feel him cringe and I knew that my mission was accomplished. "Now, homeward march!" He wiped his face off with the sleeve of his sweater and adjusted my weight.

We all continued towards my house with me still perched on Elgin's back.  When we arrived, I hopped down and grabbed hold of Alex's hand. "We're going to go ... Do homework," I told Elgin, winking subtly at Alex. We were not doing homework, that much was clear.

"Oh, I see," Elgin smirked. "Have fun with chemistry," he called as he walked away.

"I think he bought it," Alex chuckled, pulling me closer. I joined in on her laughter and led her inside my house. I was sort of surprised how well she and Elgin got along. I know I made that pact with Elgin, but I didn't tell Alex about it. She just vibed that well all on her own.

"Mom, dad, my ...  Friend ... Alex and I are gonna do homework in my room!" I shouted as Alex chuckled quietly beside me. I brought her up to my room and sat on my bed awkwardly. "So ..." I had never had a girl I liked in my room before. It felt like she was seeing into my soul.

"Buttons." She said sarcastically, sitting down beside me. "You know, I do actually have some research to do," I wasn't sure where this was going, but I played along.

"Oh really?" I raised an eyebrow, turning my body to look at her. Curiosity burned in my chest, then gay panic. 

"Yeah. Do you want to know my hypothesis?" She asked, slowly getting closer. A lump grew in my throat and all I could do was nod, so I nodded tentatively. Her hand crept up my arm and it left tingles where it traced. "I'm guessing that you are very ticklish." She grinned, tickling me. I held my ground for about 0.3 seconds and then I started howling with laughter.

"Bitch!" I gasped between laughs. "You'll pay for what you've done," I said, tickling her back. 

Somehow, we ended up with me straddling her and the both of us out of breath with laughter. "What is your conclusion?" I smirked down at her, trying not to think about how close we were.

"You are indeed very ticklish, but so am I." She giggled. Then suddenly, in one fell swoop, Alex was on top of me and I was laying on my back. She leaned in and kissed me gently. I didn't think I'd ever get used to that.

"Do you girls want—" My mom walked into my room and we froze for a moment. When we came to our senses, Alex scrambled off of me and started playing with the sleeve of her shirt. I sat up and wiped my lips, not to get rid of Alex, but to try to show my mom some sort of innocence.

"Mom, I can explain ..." I started, but I honestly didn't think I could. All I could feel was cold, hard fear. I was just glad Alex was there beside me.

"There's no need to. Your dad and I already had our suspicions." My mom sighed, walking into my room and sitting in my desk chair across from us. "Why didn't you just say something? You know that we will love you no matter what." I expected her to yell, but she just looked hurt.

"I was afraid," I tried to apologize with my eyes, and I think she picked up on it because the hurt lifted some. I glanced at Alex and she looked like she desperately wanted to leave. "There are so many stories about families being torn apart, about people's parents disowning them, all because someone came out as gay. I didn't want you to hate me or think of me differently. Mostly, I didn't want to disappoint you."

"The only thing that disappoints me is the fact that you thought you could go behind my back and have a girl in your room with the door closed." My mom raised her eyebrows and I blushed. This had become an awkward conversation.

"We were studying—" I tried to lie, but my mom cut me off sharply.

"Sure, maybe if you were taking anatomy." She smirked, standing up. I looked at her with my mouth agape. That was not a sentence I thought I would ever hear come out of one of my parent's mouths. Where was all this gall coming from in the people around me? "Anyways, do you want to stay for dinner, Alex? We're having burgers." I couldn't believe she was still offering. I'm sure she wanted, just as much as I did, to get the image out of her head of walking in on Alex and me.

"Uh," Alex looked at me for approval, but I was still shocked that my mom was okay with everything. "I'd love to! Let me call my mom and tell her."