camp cherry | hs

forty

HANA

"Maybe the main character could be gay?" Someone from my group suggests; we're working again, more on actually putting the performance together now that we had the main ideas.

"I'm not playing her anymore then," another pipes up, Harry tensing and clenching his jaw beside me.

"Why?" I call her out, more than prepared to slap her if she makes one single homophobic comment.

"I'm not acting gay," she scowls, Harry hastily pinching my leg in a signal to calm down.

"They could be bisexual? I'll play it," he offers nervously, my heart swelling with pride. Gently, I hold on to the hem of his t-shirt, just wanting to touch him in any way.

"Fine, go ahead," the group concludes, and we begin to practice our drama piece, Harry being a surprisingly good actor.

"Maybe it could be the coming out story?" he suggests without thinking, flinching as if he wanted to shove the word straight back into his mouth, "like he realises and accepts who he is? And we show different people in his life's reaction?" he continues when the group look at him quizzically.

"That could be good," Poppy nods, Harry's shoulders relaxing and his eyes fixing on mine to ensure that he's alright and that I'm here. Carl comes to check on us, sending Harry a warning glare when he sees our specific topic of choice. His head tips down and his eyes refuse to look anywhere but the ground, although I see him fight a small smile when I tuck my little finger under his, curling it around and squeezing gently.

Before long dinner comes around, our small drama piece fitting together pretty well, and Harry seemed to be enjoying himself, which I'm glad for - I think he needs the distraction to pull his mind away from the looming event of tonight, telling everyone he's bisexual. Although it's just so his piece-of-shit dad couldn't do it himself, so he's basically being forced, he seemed to genuinely want to do it and thanked me a million times throughout the day for giving him the confidence, often accompanied by tender kisses.

Taylor seems to have recovered from this morning's unfortunate event, although he still can't look us in the eye as we eat. Harry barely even notices as he devours his third bowl of spaghetti carbonara, apparently enjoying it very much. "Cherry, after the performances..." he informs me, looking slightly anxious, but for the most part, he looked excited; excited at the prospect of not having to hide who he is anymore.

"Everything's gonna be fine, promise," I reply faintly, hooking his finger around mine, "you're alright," I remind him, his nerves visibly increasing every minute.

Everyone else's performances go well, touching on different topics like horror, illness, comedy - until we're next, going last, which seems pretty fortunate for Harry's plan. I can see how anxious he is, his face distracted and voice shaking slightly at some points during his lines, but for the most part, it goes fantastically. Many of the people in the audience are touched, Ella even crying, although I'm not sure if it was for show to encourage Harry, however, his acting was very convincing, because I suppose this is his life.

His leg is shaking vigorously by the time we finish, everyone clapping and cheering, the rest of my group returning to their seats, as do I, so Harry can watch me for reassurance.

"Uh, hi, I'm Harry, one of the counsellors here, and there's something very important to me that I would like to say. Someone in my life has threatened to say this themselves, so I decided to take back control and do it before they can," Carl's face is reddening more and more with each word, although he doesn't stop him, Harry's voice shaky and cracked, although he seems to gain confidence throughout his speech, his bright eyes never wavering from my adoring ones, "another person, although they're quite new in my life, has given me the confidence to say this, and accept it more, so thank you to them, thank you so much. The thing I want to say is..." he swallows deeply, the lights on the ceiling catching on his shiny face, "that I'm- I'm bisexual - meaning I like girls and boys."