Photo of Hayden 👆

Hayden's pov

-

The night was finally here.

My Graduation Party.

I recently finished high school a few days ago, but my mom decided to throw a party three days later to honor her so called "perfect" daughter.

Little did she know what I had planned for the evening.

I've decided to finally come out to my family.

Nervous was an understatement to describe the panic I was feeling. Everyone who played a role in shaping me into the person I am today were scattered like seeds all in one room.

I wondered over to the stage to make my special announcement, my palms were sweaty, my fingers were trembling and my heart was beating out of control. This was it.

Everyone laid their eyes on me, my mouth was open but the words wouldnt come out.

I stood there for a while in silence, knuckles gripping onto the cold metal microphone in my hands. All eyes were on me, expecting me to announce my appreciation for their presence. I finally gave in.

"All of my life, I felt like I was hiding a part of me, I felt like I was playing a character in a movie. The end of high school meant the start of being the real me." I gained some confidence.

"Im tired of hiding a part of me because of being scared. Im sick and tired of biting my tongue" I shut my eyes and sighed. Just. Do. It.

"which is why I must tell you this.. I AM GAY. I screamed at the top of my lungs, enough for a village to hear.

I could physically feel the room get tense. I kept my eyes shut, not wanting to see the look of horror on my family's face. They were all deeply religious people. It scared me sometimes.

I Then felt someone pulling me, my eyes flung open revealing my mother.

Oh God.

****Trigger warning, mild homophobia*****

She continued pulling on my wrist until we were in the street in front of our house.

When she stopped I could see the embarrassment in her face. It felt like a kick to the heart.

"I specifically told you not to do this and you still disobeyed me?"

My mother suspected I had feelings for women a few months ago after finding my phone laying around my room unlocked while I was in the shower.

I always had a playlist set and ready for my arrival from the shower. But I was careless to leave it unlocked that day. She ran through my gallery and found multiple pictures of girls kissing, as creepy as it founds, I was now discovering myself.

After that day, I felt like a stranger to my own blood. She made it clear that having feelings for the same sex is outrageous and evil. Blah blah blah.

She never wanted anyone to find out, fearing her reputation and efforts in raising me on her own go to waste.

"Thats it, Im done with this. I'll make sure you get rid of those disgusting thoughts" she spat.

I released myself from her tight grip, I couldn't stand to see her, so I ran
feeling the hot streams of tear running down my cheek.

Ten seconds into my journey I felt a hand on my shoulder, I swiftly spun around to see my best friend Alexis out of breath.

"Bitch I'm so fucking proud of you" she engulfed me in a bone crushing hug. Alexis was an open lesbian, she made it clear that she didn't care what anyone had to say about her or her fathers.

My mother's head would blow off if she only knew Alexis was gay. I tried to hide it at much as possible. She just knew about her gay dads and shun upon them.

"I saw what happened, dont worry I'm here for you and always will be, if they dont accept you just know that you'll always be my family" she smiled.

"ugh I cannot go back in there right now" I said rubbing my temples.

"I know, where you headed to?".. she raised her brow.

"Anywhere but here" I ran a hand through my curls.

"Well lets go to my house, you can sleep over..we could watch gay shit all night" she grinned. Luckily her house was just a few blocks down.

...

"Dad I'm home!" Alexis shouted while closing the door.

"I'll be there in a sec hun" Joey yelled from the kitchen. He was one of Alexis's dads.

Joey's husband, Daniel worked as a lawyer while Joey owned a cafe near our school.

I sat down at the coffee table admiring the photo of Alexis and I at our first game.

Alexis and I played soccer, I was the captain while Alexis was the vice captain. We both wanted to take a break before going off to college.

Joey entered the room with a huge grin on his face. He smelled like cookies causing me to smile a bit.

"Hi Hayden" he greeted, "how was your party! I hope you girls had fun" he said as he sat down.

I nervously scratched the nape of my neck.

"It honestly went downhill, I finally came out to everyone and my mother basically dragged me from the stage" I shrugged. Joey always treated me like a daughter, he welcomed me with open arms and helped me through my darkest times. I was thankful to have him.

A silence filled the room, Joey looked at me with sympathy before walking over and engulfing me in a hug. My arms snaked around his back feeling a warmth of parental comfort invade me.

I can honestly say that felt a weight lifted from my shoulder the moment I came out. I did not want to start a new page after high school still pretending to be a person that my mother wanted. I refused to.

After a few more minutes of small talk. Alexis and I went up to her room to binge watch horror films.

A few hours and many trips to the fridge later
I laid on her bed
with thoughts racing through my head.

Did that ryhme? I'm such a poet.

I thought about the image of my mother's face, disgusted by her only daughter possibly being with another woman. I just wish she could accept the fact that this is who I am.

I closed my eyes that night, not knowing what tomorrow held.

A/n hi everyone +.+ this book is being written by QuinceNash and myself.
It is in no way intended to offend anyone on any religious belief

This book does not aim to make fun of anyone going through similar situations and we do not condone such acts. Conversion camps are a serious issue and it is disgraceful that many lgbt youths are put into them.
We do not know much about conversion camps so we apologize if it offends any reader or goes too far with its context.

To stray away from the gruesome activities being done in these camps, we changed the idea of a traditional conversion camp and spun it more like a boarding school

There is use of homophia, religion and sexual content.

Feel free to leave comments, vote on your favorite chapter, and give opinions. Help us create content that you want ♥

~Sarah