It was finally Monday. I tried to convince my mom to let me stay home but she had already made up her mind. She said that I had a few tests coming up soon and I needed to pay attention in class and there couldn't be any skipping. I rolled my eyes with a sad sigh.

Lily's parents let her stay home without asking why and I felt kind of bad. Almost as if they didn't really care at all. Jackson's parents said he had to go to school because he had all A's and they didn't want him messing it up. Ashton didn't want to leave Jackson's side, so he wanted to go no matter what.

It sucked to not be able to tell any of the parents anything. The situation was already way out of hand and they would probably make it worse.

Lily decided to go as well, saying that she didn't want to be left alone while everyone else had to go to school and that it was unfair. I urged Jackson to just skip with Lily but he said that his parents wouldn't let him hang out with us anymore if they had found out.

I took a quick glance at the mirror before putting my hair up into a high ponytail and headed out of the door with my backpack without saying goodbye to anyone. I had more important things to worry about than that.

We all met up near the school, but still far away from it. They didn't want to be seen by anyone. After all, the entire school practically knew about what had happened. Sure it could be some rumor but all of it was true and people believed rumors easily. Anything to stir up some drama.

"Act normal. Maybe no one will say anything," I tried to reassure the three with a small glint of hope in my voice.

Lily let out a dry laugh, not believing a single thing I just said. I could tell she was on the verge of tears so I pulled her into a hug. She was stiff for a moment, but then hugged back, laying her head on my shoulder.

"I don't know what to do," Lily muttered in a tone that broke my soul. She sounded so sad— so broken. Jackson and Ashton both joined our hug and I heard a few sniffles in the process.

"This will pass, I promise. Stay strong. Please," I begged them. There was no response. I let out a small chuckle, "look at us, crying like idiots. Come on, chin up guys. We're strong."

It wasn't a lie either. We were all strong, independent men and women who deserved more love than the world was giving them. Amen to that, Kylie.

"The bell rings soon," Jackson commented and we broke away from our hug. It felt odd to not have Lucas here with us. I suddenly felt a pang in my heart, remembering the events form yesterday.

We walked over to the school and I felt the silence radiate from all of us. As soon as we walked into the building, it was as if the world stopped turning. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned towards us, whispering to their friends.

"Have you seen those Instagram posts?" I heard someone ask their friend. I glanced over to the three of them and saw them averting their eyes down to their feet.

"Why were Lucas and Damien hanging out with freaks like them? At least I'm normal," I heard a girl scoff.

"Look at them. A freak and two faggots," someone said, making the other person laugh. "Next thing you know, she's gonna be hanging herself."

I looked over at Lily and saw her eyes start to water. Some people stared at us sympathetically while others gossiped to their friends. I didn't want anyone's sympathy. I didn't want any of this.

"Faggots alert!" someone yelled out, pointing at us. I turned my head to see who it was and saw Natalia's friend, Daniel, grinning like an idiot. Damien was nowhere to be seen.

Daniel slung an arm around Lucas, who looked sympathetic and sorry. He didn't try to stop anyone from calling us names. He didn't try to stop his friends from hurting us.

I don't want your sympathy, Lucas King.

Once my eyes connected with Lucas's, I quickly turned my head away. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Shut the fuck up!" I yelled out and was surprised when no teacher came out to see what was happening. That was the first time I've sworn. Wow.

"I'm so tired of it. I can't stand it. How would you feel if you were them? Huh? Why are you guys so focused on spreading hate? Why are you not asking if we're alright? You," I stared at Lucas as he averted his eyes away from me, "and all of your other friends— you guys can go fuck yourselves. That goes for the rest of this school."

Everybody looked at me in shock. Lucas was staring at the ground but I honestly didn't care anymore. I was so fed up with it, I couldn't just not say anything. I walked out of the school and the other three followed me out. I felt eyes on my back.

"We don't want you here!" I heard Natalia scream out and I knew there was a smug look on her face without even having to look.

I wanted to scream out so badly. So many emotions were running through every fiber of my body. Why couldn't everything be normal? Why did any of this ever happen? What did we do to deserve any of this?

Once we were far away from the school, Lily fell to her knees and started to sob. It was the kind of sob that screamed out "please help me" silently. I pulled her into a hug and felt my shirt get wet from her tears.

     It wasn't even a minute later until we were all a crying mess. I wanted to be strong for them, but how could I when the person who I thought was by my side left? The person who I started to trust just disappeared from my world and into the world he used to be in. Maybe he was meant to be with them and not me.

I should've never let him into my life. I should've never let a teacher bribe me with sweets to tutor him. I should've never hung out with him. I can't even say his name anymore. I was absolutely bitter about the situation— about all of the regrets involving him.

I still hate him.

——

i literally finished this like right after the other chapter but i wanted to wait a bit and see if i'd get 1k votes. ik i said i'd only post once i reached 1k votes but i didn't wanna wait.

theres no qotd for this chapter.