You Don't Understand

Chapter 2

Quiet and Reserved:

The bus came to a holt and everyone shoved passed each other to get off. Jay remained seated, staying where he was for just a minute. Once the pushing and shoving stopped, he found himself being the only one on the bus. Even the driver had left. Lifting his bag over his shoulder, Jay made his way off of the bus and jumped down the stairs. A small smile made its way on his lips for a single moment when he found humour in his sky blue jumper matching his bag. It disappeared, knowing people would find it strange to see a boy smiling to himself. People knew him for being the weird boy, how much weirder could they think he was?

Jay looked up, observing the moving waves of people. With a gulp and deep breath, his journey to the lockers began. Upon arrival, he saw the space around his locker empty. Jay's fingers twiddled with the combination, entering the numbers; 2,4,6,8. A basic combination, but at least he remembered it. It was his password for most things.

Inside, he grabbed the books he needed for the first half of the day and put away anything he didn't yet need. After putting them in a organised way into his pale blue bag, his body jumped as his locker slammed shut before his eyes,

'Hey gay boy, where's your bag? Lost like your mind?' Mike's voice rang through Jay's ears. Ignoring the urge to roll his eyes at the joke that his bag matched his jumper, Jay avoided eye contact as he walked away, only to be pulled back by Mike's large hand yanking his collar back, 'don't walk away from me! Who the hell do you think you are?'

Just then, the bell rang. Jay sighed, in relief and annoyance, as Mike let go of his jumper and allowed Jay to walk to his lesson. Mike stood there for a moment, watching in disgust as the boy walked away. He didn't lose sight, his bright clothes made it impossible to do so. And so Mike watched, until the corridors were clear and empty, only then did he make his way in the opposite direction to his own class.

English, the first lesson. Jay sat there in the corner of the classroom, sat next to someone who he had never talked to. Speaking of talking, not many people actually talked to Jay. He had his own small group of friends, other than that he didn't talk to anyone else. Most of the school had never even heard his voice. Jay's interest in the lesson had vanished before he had even entered the room, and so the not-so-productive lesson went by through doodles in the corner of his page. What started off as a small flower with an intricate pattern turned into the entire margin filled with a repeated pattern of rounded shapes and soft structure. 

It felt like an eternity to the students of the school, but lunch finally rolled around and gave them a mental break. Jay sat with his friends; James, Dan and Thomas. Despite their opposite personalities, they were drawn together like magnets. James; a loud guy with a fun personality and a permanent smile imprinted onto his face. To match his loudness with red hair that screamed for attention, her was the talker of the little group. Dan was more sensible, calm and collected, the sort of leader, if you would. The tallest and most athletic with natural curls in his hair. Jay always figured he would be popular if Dan didn't hang out with him, but Dan always assured him that he would chose them over the popular guys anyways. Thomas was a forgotten person, if anyone mentioned his name it was followed up with the question, 'who?'. He spoke rarely with his friends, forget anyone else. His blonde hair covered his blue eyes and he could never keep eye contact.

'All I'm saying is that it's weird how unicorns aren't a thing, but giraffes are,' James began one of his many weird conversation. His sentence earned him a few strange looks as he talked loudly.

'What does that even mean, James?' Dan questioned, Jay giggled in the corner at Dan's expression. 

'You're telling me a horse with a rhino's horn doesn't exist, but a giant leopard with a long neck and skinny legs does? That doesn't make sense!'

'You don't make sense,' Jay stated with a smile at his friend, 'where did this even come from?'

'I don't know, I just thought about it now!' James exclaimed.

The rest of the table laughed at him, they had long accepted that it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to say strange things. He was the type of guy who read those 'fun facts', believing them and telling everyone else.

'Is that jumper new, Jay?' Dan turned to him.

'Yeah, it is,' Jay responded, adjusting his sleeves.

'Looks nice,' Dan complimented, earning a tiny smile from Jay.

'It matches your bag, it's like it's not there!' James pointed.

Jay laughed quietly, 'I know, I've been told.'

'Considering we are the only people you talk to in this school, was it one of them?' James nodded his head to the table that was opposite them. They turned their heads to the table that produced the most noise in the room. Two tables pushed together, filled with about 12 people; the populars. Whilst the girls sat and gossiped, the guys jumped around and yelled. That was where Mike sat, with his large group of friends. he was one of the guys who were screaming and laughing.

They all looked away and Jay looked to James, 'yeah

'Mike Verdez?' Dan questioned, to which Jay nodded. The school knew Mike Versez's favourite hobby was to bully Jay White, and so nobody interfered, if they did they would be bullied, too. That was part of how Dan ended up where he was. Being the new person, Dan was at a disadvantage, but helping out the bullied kid only left him isolated. He took an interest in jay, and they became friends.

'His hair is so straight,' James shook his head with a serious expression, the other three simply glanced up and him with furrowed eyebrows, 'what? Look at it! Black hair is basic for a guy, plus it's short, sticks up and looks like you would cut your finger if you touch it.'

Dan glanced back to the other table and stared back at James, 'I suppose so, I don't know the difference between straight and gay hair.'

'Look at Mike's hair, or even your hair, then look at mine and Jay's hair,' James said. James was, too, gay. Though not as many people knew. Jay was the first one to come out at Junnville high, James came out just over a year later. 

'Don't bring me into this,' Jay stated. 

'Sorry, Jay, your hair is great, but it's gay,' James smiled at him, his familiar bright smile.

'I'll take it as a compliment,' Jay said.