He awoke with urgency, wishing he could be in school, secretly seeing the one he loved. He had the dream again that he’d been kissing Drew, the captain and star quarterback of the football team. He sighed, and glanced over at the clock: four in the morning. He knew falling back was impossible, and despite that he’d risk the possibility to fall asleep in class, it wasn't worth going back to sleep when his
parents would be up in an hour. He brushed his hair around with his hand, and then reached for his glasses on the bed stand table. The scrawny boy stretched his arms and woke his legs, and started his morning routine: check homework, calendar, today’s schedule, shower, dress, deal with hair, and eat. After a tedious scrubbing, making sure that he’d clean every millimeter of his body, and picking out his
clothes for today, he thought maybe he’d try something. It was only on occasion that he even so much as considered this fact… but he had an odd feeling that maybe today would be right, and he could win the heart of his crush. He glanced over at the small box sitting in the corner of his dresser. It was a gift from his mother for his birthday, knowing their son was gay, they figured they’d get him something
supposedly all homosexual teens had. Make-up, and yes, that included some guy-liner… lots, and lots, of guy-liner. It saddened him that his parents never understood him. They were always away, whether it was just so they didn't have to bare their homosexual son, his issues and OCD, or work.
“No, I shouldn't, I look good enough already.” He mumbled to himself, trying to stay positive, spiking the last strand of hair with his product. He walked to leave his room and head downstairs to make breakfast, finding himself to turn around, run to the little make up box, and dig for the black eyeliner. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He thought aloud, too far into it to back out.
—Meanwhile—
The alarm buzzed obnoxiously in his ears as he searched with his hand for the snooze button. Five o’clock and was immediately up, still groggy, getting ready for school. He went into the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, trying to erase the memory of his nightmare that had been haunting him for quite some time. He knew he was bi-curious, but the fact that he was dreaming about that nerdy
boy Sam, it was revolting. Yeah he was smart, and pretty damn attractive…
“No! Damn it!” He pounded his fist on the sink counter, making his knuckles bleed slightly.
“Why did that even go through my head?” His heart was pounding, and he really didn’t want to bare seeing Sam at school. Who knew what his mind would seduce himself into doing to him. Plus, why would Sam ever like him? He bullied him most
of his childhood life… but, there were always exceptions to him, as he thought about it. He never really bullied Sam that much as the other imbeciles in the neighborhood, as a matter of fact; he was protecting Sam most of the time.
“Great. What if he does like me like that.” Drew mumbled, throwing on some fresh clothes and jumping downstairs for breakfast.
School wasn’t too bad for a start, Sam’s classes weren’t much to talk about, he paid attention, never getting distracted, and he was a nerd after all. He understood everything that had to do with school. The lunch bell rang and Sam rushed out of his Latin class to his locker. He put his books away and grabbed one of his novels and his PB&J, heading to the cafeteria. He sat in his usual spot, alone, at a small round
table near the back corner of the cafeteria, in perfect view of the dreamy jock, Drew. He sat down, ate his sandwich and opened up his book, looking up every once in a while to see him, anticipating for the bell to ring for the last period, so he could rush to sit next to him in math class.
Brrrrrrnnnngg. Brrrrrrnnnngg.
He stood out from the crowd, the wimpy, nerd boy, but he was awfully stylish, and it always had Drew crawling under his skin when he saw him… Why? Why did he have to be so… So… “Adorable.” The two spoke the words aloud at the same time, and stared at each other for a good minute. Sam looked away, his face flushed red. Drew was awestruck by this one boy’s beauty… Why would anyone want to hurt
this poor, defenseless boy? He had noticed the guy-liner he was wearing, and he couldn’t resist it, he didn’t want to take his eyes off of him. Sam glanced over his shoulder at Drew, realizing he was still gawking at him, he looked the other way, and his face flushed a rosy pink again. After the class started the two just kept exchanging awkward glances, none of them getting the courage to say anything.
The final bell rang to dismiss the school, and both Drew and Sam ended up rushing out to their lockers at the same time. Sam went into the library to study for a while, while Drew went off in the opposite direction to football practice. Around five, Sam had sauntered back to his locker, trading books out. He didn’t notice the football players sneaking up behind him until he was turned around and pushed
against the wall. “Look guys, he wore ‘gay liner’ today, along with his tight shirt.” One teased. “Did your mom do your make up for you, or are you a Daddy’s Boy?”
The rest snickered, but he noticed that Drew wasn’t in the pack. Where was he? Even if he was still here, would he save him? “Let’s show this little girl how real boys act.” Another boy said, taunting Sam. The one who pinned him threw a punch or two, the rest joining in, beating the frail geek to a pulp. Drew casually walked out of the locker room at the other side of the hall. He noticed the guys were messing with someone.
“Please stop!” Sam choked, “I’ll do anything just stop!”
“Shut up f**!” One player called, “Little p***y boy doesn’t know how to can it, he’s so whiny!”
Drew rushed down the hall, “What are you guys doing?” He yelled, “Do you know how pissed coach would be if I told him you all were beating someone up! Get a hold of yourselves!” There was a silence, as the team realized what their captain had said.
“C’mon guys, Drew is right, let’s ditch this homo and get out of here.” The crew of bullies left, and left in realization to Drew of whom they were torturing. Could today get any worse? He’d feel like s**t and regret it later if he just left Sam laying there.
“Hey, are you okay, S-Sam?” He was nervous, especially since he’d had nothing but mixed thoughts about this boy all day.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” The boy sat up against the lockers, cringing at the pain that shocked through him. He stood himself up weekly and closed his locker, picking up his book bag, took a step, and doubled over in pain. “Aww. Ow!” He screeched, his whole body already had bruises, but he was fighting himself trying to ignore it, but obviously, that didn’t work. Drew sprinted over, losing his nervousness less than his
sanity.
“s**t. Alright, I’m going to help you to my house, its closer, and my parents are gone for the week on
business. Also so we don’t have to explain anything to anyone, for now. “He paused for a brief second and sighed. “I’ve got some medical stuff there, so I can help you out.” From now on, he would protect Sam, no matter what it took, it didn’t matter anymore, he just wanted the lame boy to be happy and well, and he wanted him to be beautiful again, like he was today. It was a pain having to carry Sam in his arms, but he knew it was worth it, he had a pretty big thing for him, and admitting it was going to be hard. Then there was his family… If his dad found out his son was a
homosexual he’d flip! Just for a while, he’d keep it a secret from them… from the world. Maybe his parents wouldn’t care, maybe they’d except him, like Sam’s parents. He tried to be optimistic about it, but he was focused solely on helping his poor friend, if he was even considered one.
“Why are you helping me?” Sam groaned as he was gently placed on Drew’s bed. “I thought you didn’t like people like me? You always bullied me.”
“People change and I couldn’t just leave you there.”
“That’s a big change of heart there Drew.” Sam could understand why Drew would’ve changed, sort of. It was hard to think somewhat because of the pain he was in. He coughed harshly, his voice raspy. Drew came with some gauze wrap and ice packs, placing one on Sam’s black eye and the other on his rib cage.
He winced at how cold the ice packs were, then settling into it.
“I’m sorry I let this happen, so sorry. But I promise you it won’t, not again, not ever.” Drew sighed, a weight lifting off his shoulders, just a tad. You’re almost there, he thought; just tell him how you really feel.
“What do you mean? I go through this pain, physically or emotionally every day. How the heck are YOU going to keep it from continuing?” Sam was somewhat boggled by his words, and a little awe-struck. Was Drew saying he’d protect him? Sam shook the thought. No, Drew wasn’t that caring… was he? He hardly knew him in the first place, so why suddenly act like… a boyfriend? All he ever dreamed of, was it all finally coming true?
“I mean, umm…” Drew rubbed the back of his head; his face turning a rosy pink. “I l-like you Sam, a-a lot and I umm…” He mustered his words together, best he could, and suddenly, his nervousness and fear where flushed away at the sight of the huge white smile that spread across Sam’s face. Sam closed his eyes, still smiling and whispered, drifting off into a well needed slumber.
“That’s all I ever needed to hear.”
