The Life Of 'Bello (Intersex/Camila)

Truth Heals

There, we sat in our principal's cold office, silent as mice. Zain sat beside me on one side of the room with his gaze on his lap; a few blood stains were on his khaki cargo pants. He had just gotten back from the nurse and had a bandage on his eyebrow.

Thankfully, he didn't hit his head, which can cause a seizure.

Randy, Nick, and Edwin sat on the opposite side. Nick glared at me from his seat with his fist clenched on the armrest.

"Anyone wants to tell me what was going on earlier?" Mr. Hopkins scans his beady, brown eyes at us all. "Mr. Cabello?" I sit up straight in my seat and brought my attention to him.

"I'm not really sure what happened, Mr. Hopkins. I just saw them beating on Zain, so I stepped in," I glance at the boys, catching a glimpse of shame on Edwin's face. The man hums once, looking over at the boys.

His eyes land on Zain, who was still staring at his lap. "Mr. Garcia?" Zain slowly lifts his head, a tired look on his face.

"Sir?" He responds in an equally exhausted tone. What he told me over the weekend came to mind. He's getting picked on at home, last thing he needed were these three jackasses. "Can you tell me what happened?" Zain sucks his lips into his mouth, turning to look at me then to the others.

Nick squints at him, secretly telling him to shut up.

Zain stares back then looks at our principal before looking back down at his lap. Mr. Hopkins sighs and shakes his head. "What did you three do to this boy?" He asked incredulously. "Boy? Ha, I don't think so, Mr. H. That's an 'it'," Nick laughs sarcastically, slumping in his seat.

"Excuse me?" The man raises thick brows. "It got a girl's chest, but a boy's part. Zain's a freak, Mr. Hopkins. It should be in a circus," Randy says and at that, I stand up abruptly. "So that gives you a right to beat him up?!" I shout at them.

"Mr. Cabello, sit down, please." With a growl, I obey, shooting daggers at the two. "I can tell you what happened," Edwin then says in a quiet voice. Nick snaps his neck to look at him, but from where I sat, I couldn't see his face, but I know he's intimidating him.

"Go ahead, son," the man urges. Ed looks pass me at Zain; the darker boy still had his head bowed. His eyes came to me and he gives me an apologetic look before speaking.

"This morning, we heard from one of the juniors that Zain was gay and had a crush on Nick," Zain makes a whimper like noise beside me and I place a comforting hand on his shoulder. That junior had to had been Dante.

"Nick got mad and said that he don't wanna have a boy liking him... well, he said the f-word, but...,"

"Yo, he's lyin'!" Nick protests. "Mara, be quiet," our principal warns.

"Anyway, us three started asking around for Zain and found him at his locker. Nick told him that if he didn't stop 'f*gging' over him, that he'd beat him up. Then he pushed him against his locker. Zain pushed him back and then Nick grabbed him and threw him on the ground before him and Randy started beating him up. I admit, I stood there laughing and called him names as well, so I'm guilty, too. I just didn't touch him."

Nick sat in his seat fuming, puffing out his cheeks audibly. Randy sucks his teeth, not making another sound after that. Mr. Hopkins looked at Zain, "Mr. Garcia, is that true?" Without looking up, he nods, "As far as I know, sir." His voice was distant and it made me even more angry at my ex-best friends.

"You two," he points to Randy and Nick. "Have ten days of suspension and two saturday detentions. As for you, Mr. Honoret, you'll have detention the remainder of the week up until next Wednesday," the boys all groan, Nick being the loudest. "That ain't fair! He called it a f*ggot, too!"