room 207 | shyland ✓

sixteen

ryland's pov
↳ a month later

i stared at the phone screen in front of me, the caption of the malicious post crumbling into little pieces and swimming across my skin. my stomach dropped as i realised exactly who it contained and my heart rate increased ridiculously. each pixel made my head thump and my skin crawl and my mind go into overdrive.

"who do you think it is?" garrett excitedly asked, studying the photo carefully. "i can't believe he likes guys... holy fuck. i can't wait to show andrew this. shane dawson, star football player and your brother's friend, likes guys. ryland. ryland? are you even listening to me?"

i squeaked my chair back and averted my eyes away from the photo, panic rising to my throat. pictured on the phone screen was quite clearly the back of shane's head as he cupped a boy's face, their lips connected. the photo felt all to real, all to familiar, perhaps because – sickeningly – it was. you couldn't see my face due to the lighting of the photo, and it was so blurry from how far it had been zoomed in that it barely even looked like shane either.

who the fuck had taken a picture of us and why was it all over social media? my emotions grew dizzy as i realised that i'd didn't really matter who took it, and that we'd never find out who did; what really mattered was that shane was out, and he was no where near ready for that. i was so close to standing up and storming out the class, and was moments away from doing so when mr montgummery announced that we had to go to assembly in the main hall. something about an announcement for the next charity event.

feeling slightly ill and unsure of whether shane had seen this or not, i shoved my hands into the pockets of shane's jean jacket that he'd let me borrow a few weeks ago and followed the rest of the class into the main hall. we all filed in one by one, taking seats on the rickety chairs that nearly buckled at the impending weight of my emotions.

i stole glances around the hall, noticing that each sophomore, junior and senior were gossiping and whispering to each other and the only word that filled my ears was his name. "i bet it was one of those theatre boys he hangs out with." garrett thought aloud as we watched the teachers taking their seats and the headmaster walking towards the front. "or maybe it was—"

"shut the fuck up, garrett." i snapped, putting my head in my hands and rubbing my fingers over my eyes. his voice turned my insides queazy despite his naivety to the truth.

the blonde boys face dropped as realisation soaked through his skin. "holy shit, ryland..."

"silence!" principal matthews yelled and everyone stopped talking immediately, yet the look of shock garrett was giving me was loud enough to make me want to curl up into a ball with my fingers in my ears for the rest of eternity.

"today we're going to be talking about the make a wish foundation charity fundraiser." the middle aged man continued, his greying hair pushed away from his eyes and tucked behind his ears. i stared into my lap and tried to steady my breathing, each fibre of my body tense. there was no going back from this – shane had been outed and this wasn't just a silly rumour about him checking out a boy in the changing rooms. this was concrete evidence and this was real life and there would be no secrets anymore. "now, as all of you are aware, the school has been working closely with the charity in order to raise money for the young children with terminal illnesses, and–"

the hall suddenly filled with whispers and i finally dragged my eyes up to the stage to see shane walking from behind the curtains and approaching the microphone.

"mr dawson, what do you think you're doing?" the principal exclaimed, stepping back in surprise and reaching for the boy. "i'm going to have to ask you to take a seat."