Falling For Him ✔️

Chapter XXII. OUT IN THE OPEN

The next morning, Axel pulled into the school parking lot in his red pickup truck like he did every other day. Jack and Nathan weren't here yet, and knowing them they'd most likely show up late. Jack had probably slept in on accident.

A text from Nathan confirmed it, telling Axel to go in without them as they would show up late. Axel rolled his eyes, yet grabbed his backpack from the front seat and pulled his keys out.

The parking lot was still full despite the first warning bell to have already rang, people ambling around, talking to their friends and laughing. Axel felt a bit uneasy as he made his way, feet pounding on the black pavement, to the school building. There was a pit in his stomach and it grew larger and larger with every step he took.

Peering upwards from beneath his baseball cap, he noticed that everyone, truly everyone was staring at him. What the fuck? Axel quickened his steps, looking back down as he pushed past the door and into the school hallway.

Even inside, he had the sudden feeling that he was being watched. Frowning, Axel kept his head down and made his way to his locker. He grabbed his things quickly so that he could head to his first class, hoping that all the sudden stares would stop.

Amaya, his locker buddy, glanced up at him. "Hey, you okay, Axel?" she asked with a small smile. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you. It really sucks."

Axel felt the pit in his stomach grow even larger, the panic settling in. His eyes widened as he responded. "What's going on?" he asked, shutting his locker. "Why is everyone staring at me?"

Her mouth parted open. "You don't know?"

Axel shook his head, pushing the sudden urge to cry away. "Know what?"

Amaya glanced down at her phone. "Oh, uh, here-" She shoved the phone into his face-"Somebody leaked this video. Posted it on the school's Instagram account. A lot of people saw it before they deleted it. No one knows who did it. Some hacker."

Axel stared at the phone, frozen, breath in his chest. He was looking at that same video of him and Will, though this time it was posted on the Instagram page with the caption, "Axel Hunter and Will Anderson together? North High and its newest gay addition: Axel Hunter."

Everyone followed that Instagram account, even Axel did and he didn't even use Instagram that often. Carter must have sent that video to someone else before they'd destroyed his phone. Carter had somehow hacked the instagram account and posted it, successfully outing Axel to the entire fucking school.

"I'm so sorry, Axel," Amaya said. "Whoever did this is sick."

Axel pushed past her. "Thanks, Amaya," he said as he made his way to the nearest bathroom, his entire body shaking. In rage, or in fear, he didn't know-probably both.

He couldn't handle these stares; he couldn't handle being out in the open any longer. Everyone knew. Everyone knew and there was nothing he could do about it.

He wasn't ready. Axel hadn't been ready for the entire fucking school to know.

He stared down at his shaking hands which grasped the edge of the marble counter so hard his knuckles turned white. Luckily, the bathroom was empty, and as the bell signaling first class rang a second later, Axel felt a single tear slide down his cheek.

Furiously, he wiped it away before any more tears could fall out. It felt like he had been peacefully hiding in the dark, then a bright stage light had shown down on him. Axel felt scared. He felt angry and most of all he felt like a piece of his identity had been taken away.

He was supposed to be the one to do it. He was the one to do it, when he was fully ready. It was supposed to be on his terms.

Not fucking Carter's.