Pride

1

"I HATE YOU!!"

"SO DO I!!!!"

~ 5 years earlier ~

I was walking home from school with my best friend John, who was currently rambling about his girlfriend. It was funny listening to all the shenanigans they put each other through.

For example, one time they both forgot their 3rd month anniversary and kept having a weird gut feeling for the whole day. Well, till someone finally asked if they got the other something.

"Okay, I gotta go now. See ya tomorrow, John!" I said, waving at him.

"Bye, Bobby boy!" John yelled back. It was normal for him to use my middle name more than my first name. But I didn't mind.

Opening the door, I walked inside. Already hearing the steps coming down the stairs.

Quickly closing the door before I fell through it, I felt two small arms wrap around me.

"Mike!" I heard my little sister, Joanna, yell my name. Even though I could clearly hear her.

"Hey there, Jo." I replied, ruffling her brown hair that was in two pigtails. She looked up at me, giving me a big toothy grin. Chuckling quietly, I grabbed her hands and we made our way to the kitchen. Where I heard my mom making lunch.

"Welcome back, Michael. How was school?" Mom asked as she took out a plate for me.

Placing my bag down beside myself, I looked over at her. "It was alright, can't wait for summer break to come and slap us with free time."

My mom giggled at my comment and placed down the plate with spaghetti on them.

"So when is dad coming home?" I asked, getting ready to dive into the meal and eat it.

"He'll come back soon, went to help out our neighbors. Why do you ask?" She leaned onto the counter top, with a slight smile.

"Oh I just gotta tell you two something important. I've been wanting to tell you about it for a while." Was my answer as I started to eat the meal.

You see I, Michael Bob Reynolds, has had a crush on one of my jock classmates for some time. And it was quite obvious in school.
Now, being born in a Christian family is a hard thing for people like us. My parents always told me

'They are bad people, they will go to hell'
'Don't ever befriend those kind of people'

But thanks to the internet, my mind was changed and I started to support it. Secretly, of course.
I could tell that my interest in girls was literally nonexistent, I have a few friends that are girls, like John's girlfriend.

I finished up eating my lunch and grabbed my bag, making my way upstairs to my room. It was getting warmer, meaning summer is on the doorway.

Changing into a pair of shorts and a hoodie, I turned on my laptop. Going onto Discord to talk with John and maybe play a round or two of whichever game he is currently playing.

Deciding I'll do my homework after a few hours of gameplay, I thought about what the best way would be to come out to my parents.

I know they'll probably disown my ass, and continue teaching Joanna about how bad the LGBT community is. Though I think she'll want to stay on my side....

Hearing John's voice coming from my headphones I gave out a light chuckle. I could hear he was already smoking in his room, quite normal if I'll be honest.

I mean, he is the reason why I got into it as well. Though his parents are quite leaned back with their parenting, so I'm guessing they wouldn't mind if I was gay or not.

Well, time to play video games with my best friend since first grade.....