Unexpected

Unsupportive

Scott:

    I mulled over the offer the whole day, bouncing from decision to decision. I zoned out completely during class, but only two teachers really noticed; especially Mr. Penn, the PE instructor ("Put your build to use, Hoying! A push-up shouldn't be that hard for someone like you!")

    I was unsure of what to do

    Learning information in exchange for having my side of the "fight" published for the whole school to read? Is it really a fair deal? Would I benefit from the knowledge I could gain? The same questions appeared over and over in my head.

     At lunch, I was still lost. I sat with Mitch again, but made no effort to start a conversation. I allowed myself to get lost in thought, only pausing every once in a while to take a bite of the disgusting food in front of me (hey, a guy's gotta eat, even if the food tastes awful).

     "So. . . I guess you know Kirstie," said Mitch. I snapped back into reality. "Yeah, I guess. What about it?"

     "Oh, nothing. Just saw you guys talking in the hall." I nodded and resumed to blocking out the world in the hope of finding a solution. However, Mitch didn't want to leave our talk at that.

     "You took a while to get to class. Did she ask you about. . . you know. . ."

     The temptation to tell him to let me be was overwhelming. But, making another enemy at Martin was not high on my to-do list. "Yep. She wanted an interview, but I declined," I fibbed, purposely leaving out the fact that I was considering learning about his personal life behind his back.

     Mitch poked his mashed potatoes with a fork. "Of course she did. She's a good person, no doubt, but ever since she joined the newspaper, she's been willing enough to exploit anything just so she could get some recognition."

     The boy sighed. "That's why I didn't want to stay friends after I came out. She would've been so quick to tell the story, so I thought that shutting myself out from her would prevent her from getting enough details to actually publish it."

     "Wait, so the whole school doesn't know about you?" I interrupted, very confused with what I was hearing. Mitch rolled his eyes. "Scott, if the school knew, why do you think Carson wanted to 'express his happiness' by announcing my homosexuality to everyone? If everyone knew, no one would have gathered around to listen to what he had to say about me yesterday."

     I blinked. If no one knew, why was he so alone? I was about to ask him this when the bell rang. Mitch swung his feet around the edge of the bench we shared and stood, picking up his tray, which had gone untouched the entire lunch period. "Can't be late to math class. Bye."

Kirstin:

     I drummed my fingers anxiously on the desk in the news room, my eyes flicking over to the door and then to my notebook, which lay open on the wooden table, ready to be filled with facts. My heart was beating quickly from excitement and nervousness. Would Scott show up?