A/N: Thank you to all who took part in WIN a Dedication! You voted, I uploaded; what do you think of the new cover?

PS: To those of you who've read The Green Girl and Frost on the Green - they also have new covers; what do you think of them?

*****

Nathaniel's POV

I felt as if everyone had their eyes on us. Perhaps because it was true. I couldn't blame them though; it wasn't as if you saw on daily basis two guys holding hands in the hallway of your school.

It started before we even got in the building, before we approached the parking lot. The boys pointed, the girls leaned closer to each other and gossiped... I think a few even took pictures of us. I was trying not to pay attention to them but with every step we took to get closer to our place of learning, my heart beat got faster and my breathing more shallow.

I licked my lips for a hundredth time and enveloped my left arm around my torso. Hunter was firmly folding onto my right hand.

Hunter.

He seemed completely unperturbed by being in the limelight. His footsteps were even and his shoulders relaxed. Unlike me, he didn't avoid our schoolmates' gaze; he stared right back at them.

Perhaps 'calm' wasn't the right way to describe him after all. There was a certain hint of defiance in his steely eyes, a challenge to everyone who dared to speak against us in our face.

I dreaded what he would do if someone was stupid enough to take him up on that challenge.

I turned my head to look behind me, at my sister.

When I told Vallery what Hunter and I planned for today and she replied with 'I have your back', I didn't know she meant it literally.

From home to here, she'd walked behind us. Right now she had her hands balled into fists and was busy at glaring at... well, everyone.

The group of girls who were waiving in our direction?

She glared at them.

The two football players who turned around when they saw us and suddenly got fascinated with the nearby tree?

She glared at them; they didn't even see her, but she glared.

The guy who spit on the ground as we passed by him?

The glare turned murderous and I let go of Hunt to grab a hold of my twin before she took another step towards the disgusted boy.

I only released her when we neared the outer stairs. Hunter intertwined his fingers with mine again and Val took her previous place, guarding us from behind.

We climbed the first step of the stairs.

I had not seen anyone I was friends with yet. Then again, I wasn't very popular and didn't have many friends.

Second step.

Would the reactions of the people inside be worse than those out in the yard?

Forth step.

It would be more crowded in there so it will be harder to keep track of everyone. That was good because...

Fifth step.

... I wouldn't have to deal with everyone's reaction at the same time, but also bad as someone might surprise us by throwing something at us.

Seventh step.

Would I be able to keep Hunter and Vallery from beating up that person?

Eight step.

I shook my head; I had no chance at keeping one of them under control, let alone both at the same time.

Ninth step.

But the teachers would intervene, right?

Tenth step.

They wouldn't blame Val or Hunt if someone else was the instigator of the fight, right?

Eleventh step.

What if they called our parents because of that?

Twelfth step.

Or because they saw us holding hands?

We were already on the landing and walking towards the door.

They wouldn't call mom and dad because of that, right?

Hunter pushed the double doors open and we walked inside.

Like in the parking lot, all eyes fell on us.

*****

Hunter's POV

Nat hugged himself again as we walked towards his locker. He'd squeezed my hand tighter once we'd entered the hallway.

He was so not ready for this!

We'd barely gotten any reaction other than being stared at and he was already freaking out. If there was a way to turn back time, I'd go back to yesterday and insist he gave it another week before he came out. Not that one week was going to make that much of a difference in his case.

I even wished he'd actually been able to get a hold of his ex last night or this morning; maybe talking to her would've gotten rid of one of his worries. Then again, it could've made things worse; she sure wasn't happy the last time she'd seen us.

I let him go and leaned on a nearby locker as the twins opened theirs. Nat's was stuck and Val pounded on it once to help him open it; it seemed to be a reflex with her and he didn't look surprised to see her do it.

Actually, he didn't look anything but scared. He was still white as a sheet and kept gulping and licking his lips; at least his breathing had slowed down. Perhaps it was because no one had actually attack us yet.

I clenched my jaw so tightly, the left side hurt.

I couldn't protect him.

Here, in the hallway, I could put up a fight against a potential aggressor and I knew that Val would help out too. But during classes?

I was a senior and he was a junior. Val barely had any classes with him either. All in all, he was on his own and helpless.

"Is it true?"

Nat froze and I turned around to see who had spoken.

The boy before me with his curly blond hair was familiar. I recognized him as one from Nathaniel's circle, the one Vallery called 'preacher boy' and frowned each time she did so. I didn't remember actually speaking with him, but I knew his type and I knew what was about to come.

I twisted around - this time all of me, not just my head - and pushed myself off the wall. I neared him so he couldn't look at Nat and me at the same time. He had to make a choice and given the fact that I was right in front of him with my feet apart and arms folded over my chest, he picked the obvious choice: me.

"Is what true?" I asked him calmly.

"That you and Nathaniel had gone against our Lord," he replied, momentarily breaking eye contact to look at my boyfriend. "That you are in an unholy corporal alliance..."

Two annoyed groans came out simultaneously and I didn't know which was louder: mine or Val's.

By now, the people who had been pretending to rummage through their lockers or tie their shoes or to be busy with their cell phones were blatantly staring, waiting to see what was to come along with those who hadn't bothered to put up a pretense in the first place. They all seemed surprised at my answer, perhaps even disappointed that the latest gossip - and a juicy one at that - turned out to be false.

"No, it's not true."

His stern face turned into one of immense relief as he let out a sigh and smiled.

"So the two of you are not together," he exclaimed.

"Oh, that part is true." I watched him blink in utter confusion.

"But you just said..."

"That we have not formed an unholy corporal alliance. We are dating; there's nothing unholy about that."

There hasn't been much of a corporal alliance yet, I added in my mind; he didn't need to know that.

The boy was speechless. He blinked several more times in rapid succession, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.

"You sinners!" His voice suddenly boomed and some startled girls shrieked. He pointed a scrawny white finger at us - Nat had moved to stand by my side - and breathed heavily, his gasps surpassing even Nathaniel's speed when we'd stepped in school.

"You will burn in Hell for this!" The boy kept screaming, spit shooting out of his mouth. Nathaniel looked close to tears and I dug my nails into my skin to stop myself from jumping towards preacher boy and delivering him the well-deserved punches he was practically begging me for.

But Nat wouldn't want that; he'd implored me several times to keep my cool.

"Don't you realize you are condemning your immortal souls?"

Don't you realize you are a breath away from getting the beating of your life?

"To take part in such immoral and sinful acts... To even think of them is a sin... Nathaniel you should know better! You looked like such a bright man, not some disgusting pervert..."

That was it; the blow was delivered. A single one, right in his righteous mouth.

But I wasn't the one who'd had the pleasure of making that delivery.

Val was standing over the boy, who was now kneeling, his palm covering the lower part of his face. His surprised eyes looked up at her before he removed his hand away from his mouth and looked - still wide-eyed - at the blood. His blood, running down his chin from a quickly swelling up bottom lip.

Val smiled at him brightly and turned towards us. When her gaze fell on her brother - he was just as stunned as the boy on the floor - she shrugged.

"What?" She asked, the smile never leaving her. "I promised to hold back and I did; he only has a split lip. In order to hold back more than this, I'd have to be dead."

"Vallery..." Nathaniel whispered, looking behind her. "The Principal is coming."

*****

A/N: Oh-oh, Val may be in a bit of a trouble now... Any ideas how she could get out of it?

So what do you think? Was their coming out what you thought it would be?

We are not done with their schoolmates' reactions just yet; there will be more of that in the next chapter.

Please support this chapter with a VOTE or by sharing it if you enjoyed it and have a great time on wattpad! :)

PS: Have any of you come out to your friends or family? Do you know someone who has? What was it like for you/them and the people around?