As soon as Lance was gone, I turned to Louise and grinned, yelling, "He asked me to be his boyfriend!"

Louise's face lit up like the sun and she pulled me into a hug. She let out the most high pitched squeal before jumping up and down with me still in her arms. She seemed just as happy as I was about the news. "I'm so proud of you, Keith. I really hope you know that."

"You are?"

"Yes. You've come so far from that secluded kid we adopted. You're a man now."

I let out a loud laugh but couldn't help the warm feeling in my chest. "I am not a man."

"Yes, you are. You're so much more confident."

I smiled but kept my gaze fixed on my feet. I was worried that, if I looked up, she'd notice the tears sparkling in my eyes.

There had been a time when I was unsure I would ever get to that age. I had lost both my parents before I had even hit my teenage years and felt completely alone. By nothing but luck, I was adopted by the best pair of people ever and now... I could safely say I was happy and I didn't ever want things to change.

-

I remained on cloud nine until Monday morning when I walked into my tutor. I had a smile on my face that didn't plan on leaving for days and was sure I was eradiating positive energy. That was unusual for me since I was usually considered the 'moody emo kid' by most of my class. The smile probably made it seem like the old Keith had been kidnapped and replaced by my nonexistent, much happier twin. Then I saw Allura. She was sat at someone else's desk, leant forward into a crowd of people as she blabbed on about something stupid. I didn't exactly think much of it until the entire group turned to face me. After turning around to ensure they weren't staring at someone behind me, I snapped out a curious, "What?" Thankfully irritation wasn't reflected in my tone. I was still feeding off the high of Lance finally becoming my boyfriend so I wasn't about to start an argument or a fight. Luckily for them.

"You and Lance are together, aren't you?" A girl with hair down to her shoulders asked. I think her name was Melody or something. I hardly ever interacted with her so I never bothered learning her name.

"Problem?" Melody didn't respond because she turned back to the group and they erupted into another round of whispers. I had never considered the school to be homophobic, considering we were living in 2018 with the LGBT community becoming more accepted in the world. I knew there was a kid in Year 10 who came out as gay and wasn't harassed or anything. Some idiot humiliated him in PE once but I could handle one humiliation if it meant I could hold hands with Lance in school.

I sat down once I realised that they weren't going to reply to me. I dropped my bag down under my table and balanced my head on my hands. I turned to face the window that looked out onto the school playground, entering my own dream world.

-

Disgusting.

I stared at the basic adjective for at least five minutes before scrunching the paper up in my fist. I heard one of the boys behind me laughing obnoxiously to his friend but ignored them. I was higher than them if I didn't retaliate. Louise had always taught me not to fight back too. She said they were just trying to arouse a reaction and ignoring them meant they'd eventually get bored and give up. Ignoring the bullies had helped when I had just started the new school and people found out I was adopted. They eventually got bored with it and moved onto another innocent kid. I shoved the piece of paper into the pocket of my jacket and didn't look at it for the rest of the day.

Seeing Lance at lunch brightened my mood substantially. He seemed ecstatic because he had gotten an A* in a psychology exam he had done a while ago. I praised him and gave him a celebratory kiss on the cheek which I think he appreciated because he went bright red. He explained to me about a topic he had learnt in psychology- something to do with gender, I think. I was sort of zoned out as I stared into his beautiful eyes. Once he finished, I stood up, mumbling something about going to the toilet.

I darted down the hall into the closest toilet, did my business and then left. Before I could get back to the safety of the library and Lance, someone- three people, actually- cornered me. I stared at them with wide eyes, wondering if they had somehow approached the wrong person. The leader (or the one in the front) was slowly getting closer until I could smell his grotty breath. I would have commented on it but I knew better. I swallowed thickly, glancing around the hall for help but it was empty. I tried to mentally beg Lance to come out into the hall but, of course, it didn't work.

I think the guy's name was Lotor but I couldn't actually remember. It might have been Lewis or Liam or something along those lines. He grabbed a fistful of my shirt and shoved me back into a locker. My head hit the metal and made the world spin a little. Once I blinked a few times, the world went back to a standstill. "You're disgusting, you know that? You people shouldn't exist." He snarled. He reminded me of a fierce wolf with the way his words resembled growls more than words.

"Too bad," I muttered. "We do. Accept it because you can't change it. Oh, and do you not have a better adjective than disgusting? No, because your brain is too small to-"

Of course, that was the reaction that they wanted so I should have seen it coming when he raised a fist. I scrunched my eyes shut, closed my mouth and awaited the impact but none came. When I dared open my eyes again, I noticed a teacher coming in my our direction. Lotor (or whatever his name was) and his posse scuttled off as fast as possible, leaving me to stare into empty space and breathe heavily. The teacher asked if I was alright but I was in too much shock to speak.

It was my fault that I had almost gotten hit. Me and my big mouth.

I got up onto my feet and headed back into the library, putting on a fake smile so that Lance didn't worry.

"You were so long!" Lance exclaimed when I eventually sat down beside him. I nodded, swallowing thickly as I tried my best not to think about what had almost happened. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Just some guys giving me trouble... nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean?"

"It's nothing, Lance."

"Who was it? What did they do?" I knew I shouldn't have told him. He was going to get involved and was probably just going to get himself hurt too.

"No one and nothing." There was no way he was going to let me drop the subject but I thought it was worth a try.

"It wasn't nothing. You're obviously upset." Of course, my best friend of six years would be able to see through my fake smile. Lance intertwined our hands but I continued to avoid his gaze. There was no point continuing with my attempts to drop the subject so I told him.

"He just said gay people were disgusting and shouldn't exist. He would have done something worse if a teacher hadn't come along and scared them off."

"I'll fight whoever it was."

"Yeah, right. Don't you remember getting upset because you stepped on a snail?" He pulled a face and separated our hands whilst I started to laugh loudly, the previous event forgotten. If it wasn't for the teacher, I could be a bloody pulp on the floor (I'd like to think I'd have smashed Lotor's face in but that probably wouldn't have happened) but I didn't care. It was funny how one boy got rid of all my problems with his beautiful smile and mesmerising eyes alone.

"I was in Year 7!" He defended but we both knew he was the least aggressive person on the planet. He wouldn't hurt a fly and usually got upset after having a verbal argument with somebody. I was kind of the same. I suppose we were never blessed with the genes that gave us gigantic muscles and emotional strength. I could throw out insults like a pro though, with a gigantic mouth that didn't have much of a filter.

"So?"

"Every Year 7 is a wimp!"

"They aren't! Don't you remember Derek? He used to run around the playground and try to squish all the ants. Dude was a madman."

"I bet he's in prison now."

"Me too, honestly."