Two Boys Learning

3. Room 204

"Will, get up!"

Will groaned and rolled over, shoving his head under the pillow. "No," he moaned into the mattress, even as Jessica yanked off the blanket and grabbed his pillow.

Will kept a firm hold on it and tugged back. "What do you want from me?"

"Today is the first day of school," Jessica said, letting go of the pillow and putting her hands on her hips. "You gotta get up!"

"Too late," Will grumbled, rolling over again and covering his head with the pillow again. "Already asleep."

"No, you aren't. we already registered you! Come on, it won't be that bad."

Will held out his hand. "Fifty?"

Jessica hesitated. "William...it's against the law not to go."

"Mmm...then I've broken the law more times than I thought."

Jess choked. "What?"

But Will had already sat up with a sigh, dragging his hand through his dark hair streaked with blue. "Fine. Whatever. Not like I have anything better to do."

Jess slumped in relief. "Oh, thank God..."

"But I drive."

Jess eyed him suspiciously. "No. I don't trust you. Just for today, I drive you. Who knows? Maybe you'll get a girlfriend."

"Ha." Will snorted. "As if."

He was never getting a girlfriend, for more than one reason. One, girls were weird, with their strange hair flips and obsession over what their hair looked like, and two...

Will was gay.

He'd known it for a long time, since middle school, when he had caught himself peeking at the boys in the locker room. At first, he was disgusted with himself, and then he realized that boys were way better than girls in so many ways.

"I'm just saying," Jessica continued. "If you do get a girlfriend, she's always welcome around here."

"Great," Will drawled, stretching and grabbing his leather jacket from the back o his desk chair. "Still never gonna happen."

Jess sighed, but let the topic drop as Will disappeared into the bathroom.

~ ~ ~

"Where're you goin', Ash?" 

Ash cringed. "S-school. It starts today."

His father laughed. Great, Ash thought. He's drunk, and it's not even eight in the morning.

"Don'tchu gotta do something first?" his father slurred, stumbling over to him.

"I already took out the trash," Ash said hurriedly, taking a cautious step back. "And did the dishes, and cleaned your room..."

"Tha's not errything," Daniel said, stumbling over his words. "You gotta...give yer ol' man a hug."

Ash swallowed hard. "Ah. Right." Hesitantly, he stepped forward and gave his dad a quick hug, then back away, but not before his father got a grip on his brown hair and yanked Ash's head back, his rancid breath hot in Ash's nose. He gasped, his eyes watering.

"Not long enough," his father growled.

Ash shuddered at the malice in Daniel's words and hugged his dad again, waiting until Daniel shoved him away and staggered over to the couch, collapsing onto it and falling asleep.

Ash took a few deeps breaths and glanced in the cracked mirror above the mantel, trying to smile at his reflection.

"Smile," his mother used to say. "If you smile, then you can let your demons know that they don't scare you."