step into the sun ☼ deh

xv

chapter fifteen
help
mia pov

trigger warnings: verbal abuse

     Chris walked into school with a pale look on his face. Susan walked in next to him, fuming.

     "I am about to kill his brother!" Susan told me. I had said this once before, but Chris is bi, and his brother does not accept him. Usually, Chris' brother doesn't really talk to him, unless needed, and he can be pretty verbally abusive.

     "What happened?" I asked.

     "My brother, has just recently been worse than usual. I mean, I'm used to him never speaking to me, and insulting me, whenever he felt the need to, but now... He keeps just saying awful things, and my parents don't even know..." Chris said.

     "Chris... That's awful, what did he say?" I asked.

     "I had to take him to his soccer practice, and stay with him, last night, and he told me to either act like a normal guy, or... the f-word, and he said something about how he wished I was normal... I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with me. I considered myself normal, but I guess not..."

     "Chris..." I started, "First off, there are plenty of people like you in the world. If your brother doesn't accept you for you, then he's not a true brother. Biologically, yes, but family is who you truly love, and who love you back. Second, you should totally embrace who you are, because I think it's so admirable that you tell people who you are. You should be proud of your sexuality. Normal is boring, anyways, so if you don't want to be normal, then go for it..." I started.

     "He also said the reason that he never had friends over, is because of me..." Chris said.

     "Well, your brother doesn't have too many friends, so there's a starter. And it's his own fault for not having friends over. He's the one who invites them, not you..." Susan told him.

      "If you feel like you need someone to talk to, my dad is a phone call away. There's also the school counselor, and other people at my dad's office who can help," I recommended.

      "Can I actually please call your dad later?" Chris asked. I nodded, as we both headed to psychology.

☼☼☼

     I was worrying about Chris all day. I knew that his brother wouldn't talk to him, and he would insult him, whenever he did, but I had no idea what would have prompted this outburst. I wanted to make things better, but I didn't know how. I hoped that my dad could help him, or maybe someone from dad's office.

     Chris has always been proud of who he was. He kind of did a more serious "coming out" with his family, while he did a casual one with us. Chris never actually "came out" to us. He made a joke about it, and Susan and I had to ask him for clarification. Chris had no trouble accepting others, so it wasn't hard for him to embrace who he was. Seriously, I've never heard him judge another human being. Talk smack about, yes, but never judge. Chris would welcome literally anyone with open arms, and the fact that his brother wouldn't do the same for him ticks me off so much. I tried to give Chris my best advice, but I had never been in this situation before. I didn't know exactly what to do. Luckily, I referred him to people who did. I was glad that Chris could trust my dad with this stuff. My dad knew, because one day he asked if Chris and Susan were dating. I explained everything to Dad, and he responded with "That's cool". It wasn't sarcastic or disinterested or anything. I told Chris this, and he was so happy about my dad being so chill with it. That's probably one of the reasons that Chris trusts my dad with this situation.

☼☼☼

"Um... Mr. Hansen?"

"Chris, you can call me Evan, you know that..." I said. Chris was a friend of Mia's best friends, and he kind of reminded me of Jared, for some reason. He called me, a little bit before my 3:00 session.

     "Right... I need someone to talk to..." Chris started.

     "What's going on?" I asked, getting concerned.

     "It's my brother. He's been worse than usual..."

     "What do you mean 'worse than usual'?"

     "Well, when I first came out, he didn't accept me at all. He just would never talk to me, unless he had to, and he insulted me in some way when he did. Recently, he's just been super mean to me, and he always insults me. He calls me awful names and says rude things. I mean, I don't know if it's legit abuse, because it could be worse. It might just be a discriminatory sibling thing..."

     Now, Chris was a pretty likable kid. He was always kind and accepting to people, and he always behaved. Chris was proud of who he was, and I didn't want his brother to ruin that for him.

"Okay, here's what I suggest... I think that you should do to your parents and tell them what's going on... With their consent, I will refer you both to someone in my office, okay? Then, we'll both have you guys talk to them, and hopefully you two can have a better relationship. I can't exactly make your brother accept you, but I can refer him to someone who will help him be better, okay?" I really hoped that this advice would help him.

"Okay... I'll talk to them tonight..." Chris told me.

"Thank you..." I replied, right before a new thought popped into my head, "By the way, do you know anyone by the name of Jared Kleinman?" I asked.

"The name sounds familiar, but I don't personally know anyone with that name..." there was a short pause, "Wait, I know... He was in The Connor Project, wasn't he?"

How did Chris know about The Connor Project?

"Chris, how did you find out about The Connor Project?" I asked. Did Mia talk to Chris about it?

"Well, we were looking up the Apple Orchard, because I forgot what it was called, and we found this article about it... You, Governor Beck, and the Jared Guy were in it..."

"Who's 'we'?" I asked.

"Susan, Mia, and I... Mostly Mia and I, actually..."

Well, I had some explaining to do...