Control

Chapter 1

Hi, I'm River Alexander and I'm 17 years old, openly gay diabetic senior in high school. The town that my dad and I live in isn't very accepting of people who belong to the LGBTQ+ Community. I live with my adoptiv dad only because my adoptive mom died four years ago just after my thirteenth birthday. Mom was a social worker who was driving home from a bad part of town when a stray bullet from a gang memebers gun struck her through the drivers side window. There were two rival gangs shooting at each other when it happened. Mom had just finished a home visit for a child to be returned home to his mom.

So, for the last four years it's just been my dad, Robert and I. When I was almost two years old my biological parents were killed in a car accident. I know I was in my car seat in the back of the car when the vehicle was struck head on by a drunk driver. I was adopted shortly after I arrived in the foster care system by my current parents.

I started kindergarten when I was five years old, I meet my best friend, Trevor Blake on the first day. He's my only friend as well after I came out in seventh grade, when a female classmate asked me to be her boyfriend and I told her that I didn't like girls that I only liked boys. She told everyone in middle school and let me tell you, that is when I lost the rest of my friends except Trevor. He said that he already knew I was gay, he was just waiting for me to realize it for myself.

So, I'm 5 feet 7 inches tall, I know short for a guy but what can I do about it, absolutely nothing. I have 'emo' styled hair, that is naturally a dark shade of blond, sometimes I dye black becuase black is my favorite color besides silver. I have deep ocean blue eyes, a tongue ring, and I have a dancers body since I've been in ballet since I was six years old. Ballet is my love and dancing is my passion. I live and breath dancing. I would say that I dance during the school week at least four hours a day and on weekends at least eight hours a day. It doesn't matter if it's at the dance studio or at home. Dad turned the basement into a dance studio for me when I was seven.

My goal is to attend Juilliard in New York and become a ballet dancer in either the American Ballet Theatre in New York or the English National Ballet in London, England. I'm working my ass of for this goal as well as keeping my grades at a 4.0 GPA level.

"River," dad calls from the living room. It's Saturday morning and I'm currently dressing for the next eight hours at the dance studio.

"Hang on a second, please," I holler back to my dad who says that to come down when I'm done.

Pulling on my skin tight long sleeve black shirt before grabbing my duffel bag that has my black ballet shoes, a fresh set of clothes for after practice and I shower at the studio, my hair brush, shower gel and a wash cloth and my wallet are already in my duffel bag.

Gracefully descending the stairs finding dad watching the 7 a.m. news in the living room. Gently placing my bag on the couch before sitting next to dad on the other.

"What's up, dad?" I ask as I glance at the clock on the wall and see that we don't need to leave for the dance studio for another hour. Man, I woke up way to damn early.

Dad turns the television off before turning to me. "Want to grab breakfast out before we head to the studio?"

I love the resturant that dad and I always eat at when we have meals outside of the house. Grinning at dad I jump up to grab my bag before turning back to him. "Hurry up, old man!" I holler slightly as my grin turns to an evil smirk. Dad hates it when I call him an old man, it gets him rilled and I love it.

I'm also ADHD that's why mom and dad enrolled me in ballet, it helps to expell my excess energy with my ADHD medication. I take my ADHD medication twice a day, once in the morning when I wake up and then another pill after dinner. I have to take my insulin twice a day as well when I take my ADHD medicine.