the breakup [skephalo]

[8] Self Love

trigger warnings: strong language, badass bitches😎

THE BREAKUP, ch. 8
Brianna started to take charge in everything, forcing everyone to do face masks. When Zak mentioned that he didn't feel like it, she sat in front of him and applied the face mask herself. As she was putting the gooey substance on his face, Zak began to talk.

"There's no way I'm going to school on Monday," Skeppy said in a croaky voice. His throat was sore from sobbing so much earlier. "I'm going to have to walk in with my hood up and everything."

Brianna seemed taken aback. "No way in hell are you doing that," She scolded. "You are going to walk in there Zak and you will walk like you own the fucking school. Do a fucking power walk down that hall with your head held high," She ordered. "I will literally come out again this weekend if it makes you feel better."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "There's no point in coming out if everyone already knows you're a raging lesbian," He pointed out.

Brianna glared at Jacob, shutting him up quickly. She can be quite scary when she wants to. Deep down all the boys know she could beat their asses if she wanted to. "It doesn't matter. I'll do anything to make Zak feel less alone in this."

George suddenly perked up like he had an idea. "They don't know that I am," He announced with joy.

Brianna, Darryl, and Jacob all looked at George in complete surprise at the boy's sudden confidence. All three had no idea he was even close to gay.

"You're gay?" Jacob asked him.

George shrugged. "I know I'm not 100% straight. Plus if I come out, some of the attention will go to me instead of Zak. It'll totally help the situation."

Everyone looked back at Skeppy to see his reaction. The boy shook his head. "No, I don't want you to be forced to come out earlier just for me," He told George.

George grinned. "It's okay, I was sort of planning on coming out soon anyways. This will be the perfect opportunity since some of the attention will be on you."

Darryl thought to himself for a moment. "In that case, I'll come out too," He decided.

Everybody in the room looked over at Darryl this time.

Brianna just smirked. "My friend group is so fucking gay," She muttered to herself.

After Brianna said that, everyone turned to look at Jacob.

Jacob held his hands up in defense. "Don't look at me, I'm as straight as a pencil," He said in a panicked voice.

This caused Zak to bust out into laughter. Darryl's gaze landed on Skeppy in slight surprise at the boy's sudden joy, but soon began to laugh with him. Before they knew it, everyone in the room was laughing with Zak's contagious giggles.

"Dude, if you both come out, Monday will be so fucking amazing," Zak finally admitted.

Darryl and George shared a look. "Then I guess it's decided," Darryl replied.

The boys upheld their promises and came out on their Snapchats on Sunday, the next day. Brianna also made a coming out post as a joke, taking some stress off of the entire situation. In all of their posts they made sure to mention how awful it is to be outed, throwing shade at Alice.

The trend actually picked up and by Monday morning, two other students had also come out on social media. The collaboration of the student body really warmed Darryl's heart. Unfortunately, Jacob had been suspended for punching another student. Luckily Clay's bleeding had stopped before the ambulance arrived, which meant he didn't bleed enough to go to the hospital.

Zak walked into school on Monday with his head held high. Darryl and George were on either side of him, smiling their asses off and making eye contact with any students that looked their way. The trio ended up receiving lots of stares from teens, but a few of the stares were accompanied by a proud smile.

Skeppy got a couple of high fives and fist bumps from girls and boys who supported them. On the other hand, he also acquired many glares from Alice's friends. His eyes landed on Clay, who had his nose bandaged up. To Zak's surprise, instead of glaring, Clay just stared back at him blankly. He could've sworn he saw the corner of Clay's lips pull up slightly into the smallest side smile.

During first period, a random girl approached Zak with a big smile. He recognized her to be one of the students that had joined him in coming out over the weekend. She handed him a rainbow flower crown. "I made this for you," She told him.

Skeppy smiled gratefully at her. "Really? Thank you," He said, grabbing it and placing it on his head. "What do you think? Do I look pretty?"

The girl's smile widened. "Super pretty," She said back. "No but seriously, it sucks that Alice outed you like that, but your friends are super cool for outing themselves along with you. It really inspired me and my friend to come out with you guys," She informed him.

Zak grinned. "I know. Darryl and George are the best."

With that, the girl left him alone for the rest of the period and Zak stared down at his notebook, doodling a bunch of small hearts in boredom. Darryl really is the best, He thought to himself.

~

a/n: this chapter was so cute omg it might be one of my favorite chapters out of any books i've ever written... like imagine how much easier/slightly fun it would be to come out with your friends at the same time and then walk into school with them like BRUH