[Twice Featured Noteworthy Novel & Staff Pick on Tapas.io] ✔
[Previously featured on Tapas.io's LGBTQ+ Community collection] ✔
One night. That was all it took for Senn Reyes' life to change drastically--and permanently.
Senn Reyes is a seventeen-y...
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Friday
Senn had gotten in trouble for skipping school on Wednesday afternoon, and they didn't really accept his usual excuse any longer, so he had been in detention on Thursday because of it. He was also sort-of-grounded at home, since aunt Tessa was kind of upset that he skipped again.
But Senn didn't care about that. Because what Elio had said on Wednesday hurt, but it didn't make it any less true; he had cheated, and he hadn't ever told Joyce. He simply broke up eventually, after realizing his curiosity wasn't just a phase, and he liked meeting up with Julian a little too much.
It had been eating him alive ever since his conversation with Elio on Wednesday, and it only got worse after he confined in Lucas and Avan, asking them what they thought about it. Avan simply felt like he should only tell the truth if it would do Joyce any good, whereas Lucas pointed out to him that maybe it would show Elio that he really wasn't like that. That he felt regret, that he was young and confused when he did it, but that he learned from it, and took responsibility for his actions.
But both agreed; Senn knew Joyce better than they did, so he would have to decide if she needed to hear the truth.
It would probably be an endless internal battle at what to do, and neither options were appealing. He could decide on keeping the truth from Joyce, hopefully so that she wouldn't find out any other way, and hopefully it would prevent him from breaking her trust as well. But if he'd keep it from her, he'd feel guilty, probably for the rest of his life. Elio wouldn't know he'd regretted his actions, and again, Joyce could find out anyway.
Telling her would possibly help him feel relieved and less guilty and it could help convincing Elio he could be trusted. But it could break Joyce's heart, or trust, or both. It could ruin their friendship.
It could potentially ruin everything in his group of friends.
By the time lunch came on Friday, Senn had made up his mind anyway; he needed to tell Joyce the truth. She simply deserved to know. He already broke her trust when he cheated, and the only thing he could do is show her that he regretted things. If it would have been the other way around, Senn would want to know as well.
Because he knew, better than anyone, what not knowing something could feel like.
Especially since Joyce found out about his and Elio's sexuality in a very cruel way. He hadn't even talked to her about it ever since he was forced to come out in front of half his school. Which was something he still needed to talk about with Elio too. But all in due time.
"Joyce?" he muttered, gently touching her arm as she sat down next to him at lunch. "Can we talk in private?"
Joyce's eyes went wide for a split second, then looked at his hand touching her arm. "Of course," she replied with a voice full of worry, "is something wrong?"
Senn shrugged, shook his head, nodded, and shook his head again before he shrugged a second time. "Probably not what you think."
Joyce nodded, grabbed her lunch, and followed him out of the cafeteria and outside. They went to a quiet corner, sitting down on a brick wall that had once been part of a wall from the old additional school building.
