Route 262

~3~

Despite the odds, Tuesday morning is way more hellish than Monday morning, and it's because of Sydney Gates.

It all starts when I open my locker door to find a flyer for the school Bible Study in there. It's lying on top of my math book, as if math itself wasn't already disgusting enough. I'm about to toss it in the trash, but there's a bright pink Post-it note on top - in gag-worthy girl handwriting.

"Dante - come see me about this! :-) xoxo, Syd"

It's that piece of garbage, Sydney that's behind all this. In a second, I've run up the stairs to the second floor where her locker is perched, mostly confused as to why she cares about me so much.

I find her talking to one of her gross friends, but when she sees me, her pink lips grow into a smile, and she shoos them away. "Dante!" she says, like we're old friends, like I don't despise her. I've talked to her about four times in my life - technically three, since the first time was mostly me crying after she punched me in the guts in first grade.

"What's this about?" I ask her, holding up the flyer.

Her eyes widen a little bit, her smile a little bit wider. "It's for the school Bible study," she says, as if I'm three.

"Right - I kind of got that," I say. "Why's it in my locker?"

"Well," she says, "we had our weekly meeting yesterday, and we were talking about you. We thought you might be a good - addition - to the club."

I'm so confused right now. "Why would I-"

"You were brought up to us by Steph yesterday," she says, and her eyes are gleaming now, "and she mentioned your uh - different - way of doing things. We know that you don't want to damage the school in any way - but frankly, that's the path we see you heading towards."

"Wait, wait," I say, "are you talking about the fact that I'm openly gay?" There's a nail going through my stomach right now, and despite the fact that she's about eight inches shorter than me, I feel the strong urge to bash her head in.

She seems so relieved that she didn't have to say the word herself. "Well, we prayed about you yesterday, and we thought that if you might take a look at the kinds of things you're doing to yourself and the community, you might be interested in - well - taking another path."

I'm over this - it's not like it's 1995, and this kind of thing has never happened before. I'm about to turn away in disgust, but she calls "James!" down the hallway, and in a second James is here, and I'm never not in the mood to see him. It's so weird, seeing the guy that I love with the girl that I hate and - they're making out right in front of me.

Funny that Sydney jamming her tongue in a guy's mouth before first period doesn't go in the group prayer for "despicable behavior".

Eventually she pulls away, me with my stomach thoroughly nauseated, and James looking sheepish and a little bit uncomfortable.

"Now see," Sydney says, "how could a sweet boy like you ever be attracted to another guy like him?"

She's gesturing to James, and I have to turn away quickly and keep walking down the hallway, because the thought comes to mind that I'm going to flush red soon, and then she wins. In a moment, I'm down by my locker again, able to collect my thoughts.

But the one thing on my mind is that what Sydney said is perfectly true - at least the last part - and it's torturing my soul. How is it a boy like me could ever be attracted to a guy like him?