When The Rain Stops (BXB)

Chapter 13

"...th...wait, they called us 'a gay club'?" asks Harrison. He makes some sounds of, like, disbelief (I think), and says, "I feel like they don't know what 'alliance' means."

I nod. And then realize he can't see it. "Mhm. So now I'm grounded for...forever, probably." I didn't wanna call Owen or Paige. They'd freak the fuck out and I'm not into that right now. Harrison's voice is quiet enough that I can barely tell how he's reacting. At all.

He sighs. "Damn, dude. You okay?"

I sigh back. "No. I might as well be under house arrest how it turned out."

"Oof," he says. "Still, I'm sorry." He pauses. "Want me to tell everyone, or do you want to?"

I...don't know. I'm sitting on my bed and begin pulling my legs into me. Grandma's blanket's on me. But then I realize I've said, "I'll tell them." to him and it doesn't help undo the nerves.

"M'kay." Harrison takes in a breath. "If you need me to smuggle something to you, I just finished replacing the brakes on my car." He mutters something off to the side that I don't really hear, and then says. "Actually, though. Pizza, money, video games. I can smuggle it to you."

"Oh...okay?"

"What you need?" He pauses. "Drugs?" he whispers.

I swallow. "N-no. I'm, I'm good." My voice sounds weird when I say it.

"M'kay," Harrison says again. "We'll see you...next week?"

Sighing, I nod. "Yeah." And then I hang up.

Julia calls two minutes later. "Jackie, did you forget?"

"Did you forget I don't like being called 'Jackie'?"

She grumbles, though it's more this irritated sound than being tired. "Jackson, where are you?"

"I'm...at home?"

"Ugh, I know. Are you coming out 'r what?"

Oh, fuck. We had a date tonight. "Oh...shit. I'm so sorry, Juls. I'm grounded." I sit up. "I'll make up for it, I promise."

She sighs. "What did you do?"

"A...are you serious? You didn't hear?" She's serious. I lean back on my bed. "I beat up Mason because he spat on me. And then he basically choked me to death for a little, and then a teacher saw me kicking the shit outta him. And now I'm suspended."

Julia makes that 'tsk' sound at me. And then sighs again. "Jackson, I knew this would happen. You gotta leave those gays alone."

This isn't okay anymore. Now it's just annoying. "How many times do I haveta tell you, they're not 'those gays'. You're not 'a bitch', are you?"

"Okay, wow. That was really fucking rude, Jackie."

"Don't call me that." Also, yeah, it kinda was. She is still my girlfriend.

But now she's pissed off. "You want some hard truths, Jackson?" Julia asks. "Leave the club. Everything goes back to normal and you survive the rest of the school year without killing your chances for..." She smacks her lips together. "...like, anything."

I groan. I know that this isn't gonna help my chances anywhere. But what I don't get is I still feel like I need to be a part of it. Because...reasons.

"...I'm just looking out for you, Jack," Julia whispers.

I don't say anything.

"...Jackson?"