gay ➳ m.c. au

01

michael clifford lived across the street from adrianna. their bedroom windows faced each other. michael clifford first moved across the street when they were both 7, adrianna didn't know what to think. there wasn't really anyone her age that lived on her street and now there was, but they were a boy. adrianna wanted a friend that was a girl, not a boy because boys had cooties and they smelled bad. adrianna's parents decided that adrianna should introduce herself, though, so they sent her over to the clifford house with a batch of cookies. michael was outside with his parents unpacking their minivan. adrianna walked up to him. her bright orange hair was a tangled mess that fell in front of her face, so only the insides of her eyes, her freckle-covered nose, and the gap between her two front teeth were showing.

"welcome to the neighborhood," adrianna had said shyly to michael. his parents had come up to greet her. she remembered the warm smiles on their faces, something the rest of the adults in the town lacked. they took the cookies and encouraged adrianna and michael to play while they finished unloading the car. 

adrianna and michael got along right away. adrianna made him play basketball, and even though michael wasn't keen on physical activity, he played anyway because he saw how happy it made adrianna. it was a good thing michael was never introduced to the "girls are bad at sports" stereotype, because if he had been, his pride would've been crushed after adrianna beat him by 30 points in their first one-on-one basketball game. 

that night michael and his parents walked adrianna across the street to thank her parents for the cookies and mr. and mrs. fields invited the clifford's in for dinner. ever since, the cliffords and the fields had been great family friends. michael and adrianna stuck by each other's sides until the glue that held the two of them together began to wear off. a girl named claudia had moved next to adrianna. her dark skin and curly hair was weird addition to adrianna's primarily white neighborhood and school - at that. claudia's arrival gave adrianna the chance to finally have a friend that was a girl and adrianna jumped on the opportunity - it helped that claudia had a bubbly personality that would make adrianna feel at home wherever claudia was. michael and adrianna still saw each other often, but michael seemed to be secluding himself, but adrianna had been too busy with her new friend claudia to even notice that something was wrong with michael. 

then came ninth grade. adrianna was sitting at her desk that was pushed against the window in her bedroom doing homework when she looked up and saw michael and calum hood in michael's bedroom. they were kissing. adrianna had heard of "homosexuals". she was told it was wrong, that a man shouldn't love another man and a woman shouldn't love another woman. she didn't understand why, but her parents said so, so adrianna always believed it. she always believed it until she saw her best friend michael clifford kissing a boy and then she realized that it didn't matter that michael clifford liked to kiss boys, it just mattered that michael clifford was michael clifford. she knew that if her parents found out she'd never be allowed to see him. she had picked up her phone and texted michael to close his curtains if he didn't want the whole town knowing. minutes later, adrianna saw the curtains of his room close, but he never replied to her text and he didn't talk to her for the rest of the year. 

in that time, claudia and adrianna had become closer, constantly sleeping over each other's houses, walking to school together, studying together, and just sitting in each other's presence as they texted boys and made fun of the girls who thought they were better than them. there was always a nagging in adrianna's head about michael clifford. was he gay? why wasn't he talking to her? she wanted to knock on his front door constantly and have him open it up so they could just talk and catch up, but she never had the courage. every time the fields had the cliffords over for dinner, adrianna lied about having basketball practice. this wouldn't have mattered anyway, because michael never showed up to the dinners. he was always "sick". 

between ninth and tenth grade, adrianna was shooting hoops at the park by herself and michael came and sat on the court. she had looked at him sadly as the sky started releasing bits and pieces of what would soon be a thunderstorm. 

"i'm gay."

"okay."

"doesn't that bother you?"

"no. it bothers me that you haven't been talking to me. i could care less about you being gay."

"that's good. that's good."

after that short conversation, the two had reunited and michael seemed to be happier now that he wasn't hiding his sexuality from his best friend. michael was out to his parents, who were both very accepting of him, but they told him it might be detrimental to the rest of his high school career to come out to the public.

michael listened to them - for tenth grade at least. he was a closeted gay boy, but that didn't matter because it didn't matter to his best friend.

then in eleventh grade, michael couldn't stand being closeted anymore. he posted that he was gay on facebook. 

when adrianna walked into school with him the monday after he didn't, she heard words that she wished she hadn't. michael cowered and ducked his head. adrianna could only feel sadness for michael. she remembered a group of girls: molly partridge, abigail tao, and taylor  york who had yelled "faggot" at him. at least abigail and taylor had, molly just looked down at her books sadly.  usually michael sat in on adrianna's basketball practices after school, but that day he went straight home. 

he showed up to school for the next couple of weeks, enduring the same bullying everyday until he couldn't handle it anymore and decided to be home schooled for the rest of the year. adrianna's parents hadn't brought up the gay thing until michael dropped out of school. they no longer invited the cliffords over, and the only time adrianna was allowed to see michael was when they walked to and from school, but once he dropped out, adrianna's parents broke their silence on the issue and lectured adrianna about how michael was just going through a phase and he'd come to his senses eventually. how it was nice of her to show him sympathy through this rough patch in his life, but she shouldn't be seen with him because people will start to think that she's sympathetic towards "the gays".

adrianna fumed and told them that it didn't matter that michael was gay because he was still the same michael he had always been. she told them it wasn't a phase and that his feelings were real and that homosexuals deserved the same respect everybody else did. her parents sent her to her room without dinner that night. 

the end of eleventh grade was hell for adrianna. she and claudia sat at lunch together, but adrianna couldn't stand to listen to claudia talk about boys while all around them, people were talking about "michael clifford, satan's child". she remembered one day, molly partridge sat with her at lunch when claudia was sick. molly was the "it" girl. she had tan skin with striking blue eyes and bleach blonde hair that always seemed to be pin straight. her skinny figure always managed to draw eyes to her in the hallways. eyes including adrianna's. molly said she was sorry that people were treating michael poorly, that he didn't deserve it. as lunch got out, molly grabbed adrianna's hand and squeezed it, her bright blue eyes looking into adrianna's bright green ones. adrianna felt her heart skip a beat. she didn't know why. 

after the school year ended, adrianna had decided that the only thing she ever really wanted in life was to get out of that damned town. 

OH MY GOSH I'M SO EXCITED IT'S FINALLY HERE YOU HAVE NO IDEA

I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO WRITE THIS STORY SINCE THE BEGINNING OF EIGHTH GRADE AND I'M STARTING TENTH GRADE IN SEPTEMBER.

anyway i hope you like it. i had to get everything all set up to start telling the story, so sorry that the prologue and the first chapter are kinda boring. next chapter i'll be jumping right into some gay shit. i hope you guys liked this. i worked super hard on writing it and i feel pretty confident in my writing for this so yay! i haven't been happy about writing for such a long time and now i'm just back at it woooo. 

anyway i love you, let me know what you think about this

xoxoxo mary elizabeth