Toast

Chapter Fourteen // Homophobic

~~~ The 15th Of October 2010 ((Five years and eleven months ago)) ~~~

- Amber's POV -

A girl in my primary school class was having a birthday party and invited all of the girls including me. Her house was decorated with pink balloons and sparkly banners, everybody looked like they were going to beauty pageants with their hairs in glittery ribbons and long flowery dresses on. While I was sitting in the corner with my messy plaits and ripped dungarees, I refused to let my mum throw them away even though they had been ripped from me and Elijah's adventures.

Jessica, the birthday girl decided to play pass the parcel. A game where we pass a present around in the circle with music playing and whoever the present is with when the music stops can open it. All the girls from my class sat down with her, they played Girls Aloud and sang along while playing the game.

All of the parents sat in the other room eating all of the party food, I would much rather be sitting with my mum than all of these girly girls.

After the game had finished we all sat awkwardly in the circle with the annoying music still playing and then Jessica made up another game to play..

"I have an idea! Lets go around the circle and say who we have a crush on, we're all besties here" She said with a smile on her face, everybody agreed and the awful game began.

Most of the girls in the circle said the same boy from our class which wasn't surprising, others said people none of us knew and then the odd one said;

"My mum! I love her!"

Then it came to me, all the girls in the circle stared down at me with grins on their faces. Little eleven year old Amber had no idea that the things in her head were so bad, that people would make fun of her for feeling different than the other girls in the circle.

"I have a crush on Lola, she lives in my street" I said happily before every girl in the circle gasped, they looked disgusted at me and I had no idea why. Did I say something wrong?

"Eewww" They all said together while laughing loudly and pointing at me, I looked at them all with a huge frown on my face. What's wrong with liking Lola? I didn't laugh when they told me they liked the annoying boys in our class.

I began to cry at the laughter which got louder over time, I stood up and ran into the other room where all the parents were sitting including my mum. They all went quiet when I entered the room with tears streaming down my face.

"Mum we have to leave! Now!" I shouted while tugging on her jumper, she almost spilt her drink which she was holding.

"What's going on Amber?" Mum asked me calmly while everybody stared our direction, suddenly all of the girls followed me into the room and continued to point and laugh at me.

"Amber likes girls!" Jessica shouted while laughing, the parents in the room gasped and stared at me in anger. I looked at my mum who also looked shock, she set down the drink and took my hand before leaving the house.

When we got home my mum asked to talk to me about the situation but I refused, I sprinted down our street to find my best friend.

"Elijah!" I shouted from outside his house, I stared up at his bedroom window but there was no reply. I looked around for a moment before realising his back gate was open, I ran into the garden before hurrying over to his tree house or as he called it 'The Den'.

"Elijah I need help!" I shouted as I gasped for air, Elijah appeared out of the window from his den. He waved at me happily before realising the state I was in. Elijah opened the door above me, I climbed up the ladder attached to the tree until I was inside the wooden den Elijah's dad had made for him. Inside there was a blow up sofa and a cupboard for Elijah's stash of snacks. He stared at me with a frown once he saw my tomato coloured face and blotchy red eyes, he pulled me close and we hugged tightly for a long time.