Hey, so this chapter includes a very homophobic person. Please know that I am not being mean and it is just a part for the story (character development). I'm not making a statement or saying that gay people are bad (I mean, have you read my stuff??) I am just making a character homophobic to add some drama and it is for enjoyment. I do not stand by anything that character says.

A couple of weeks went by and Jimmy's parents kept giving him weird looks, like they were worried that he had some sort of illness.

"Do you know what that motto on Mrs. Jane's wall means?" Grian asked one day when they were playing tetherball outside at recess while Carmen watched them.

Jimmy was about to answer but Grian yelped as Jimmy had made the ball go flying to Grian.

"Can we not play this game? I always get worried that it's going to hit me."

"G, when has it ever done that to you?" Jimmy asked as he stopped the ball and let it hang from the pole.

Grian folded his arms, "Well the other five people who had to go to the nurse would say otherwise. I've seen people get black eyes from this thing!"

Jimmy shook his head and he, Grian, and Carmen walked away.

Instead, they decided to play foursquare.

Well, Jimmy and Carmen did.

Grian mostly sat at a neighboring bench, bopping around as he watched his friends.

After about five rounds, Jimmy sat down next to his friend.

There was a group of girls watching the boys play foursquare and Carmen started to make silly mistakes.

"Oh yeah, Mrs. Jane's motto." Jimmy remembered, "You don't know what it means?"

Grian shook his head, watching as Carmen sat down next to Jimmy.

"It means that a boy can like a boy and a girl can like a girl." Jimmy said and he was confused at Carmen's mortified face.

"Is- is that what it means?" He stuttered.

"Er- yeah." Jimmy said, confused, "Why? Is that a bad thing?"

Carmen nodded, "My parents say that it's wrong for guys to like guys. They said that they're evil."

"What?!" Jimmy and Grian said together.

"Yeah. They said that guys HAVE to like girls and girls HAVE to like boys. They said that guys who like guys are freaks and try to ruin society. Same with girls who like girls."

"B-but what about girls who want to be guys?" Jimmy asked, scared at what he was hearing.

Carmen looked as if Jimmy had just summoned a demon.

"M-my parents said that if a girl wants to be a guy, then..." He took a deep breath, "Then they're insane and they're not grateful for what they have and they just want to corrupt the world."

Grian and Jimmy exchanged worried looks, but then Carmen grabbed Jimmy's shoulders.

"Promise me you don't like guys." Carmen said, suddenly looking serious, "Because you'll get sent to hell and I'll never be allowed to talk to you again."

"Well, I..." Jimmy paused.

He didn't want to lose one of his good friends but he didn't want to lie to him either.

Carmen then sighed, "You had a crush on a girl last year, I remember you telling me about it, who was that?"

Jimmy, without thinking twice said, "Oh that wasn't a girl. That was a guy on TV."

Carmen looked petrified but after a minute he got up and stepped back.

He then took one last look at Jimmy and ran off.

One Week Later-

"Hey James!" His dad said cheerfully, welcoming Jimmy into the car.

Jimmy didn't want to talk.

Carmen wasn't talking to him anymore because he liked guys.

"What's wrong?" He asked seriously as he started driving.

"Nothing." Jimmy mumbled, looking out the window.

"Are you going through the rebelling stage already? Thought that came in middle school." His father joked, wanting Jimmy to laugh, but he didn't.

"Now seriously, what's- "

He was cut off by honking at a driver who just collided into their lane without a turn signal.

"Idiot!" His father screamed at him.

Luckily, his father spent the rest of the drive talking about what not to do when driving.

Jimmy watched as the familiar houses passed by his window.

But then their street passed by.

"Er- dad?"

"Yes?"

"Where are we- home was..." Jimmy pointed backwards and his father smiled.

About twenty minutes later, his father drove into a parking lot that was home to a Home Depot, Best Buy, and a Pets Smart. 

"Well, me and your mother were thinking, you've seemed really off color lately and..." He turned to face his son.

"Something's going on in that head of yours. Something that you're not letting us help you with. I know that when the time is right you'll tell us what is wrong, but we wanted to get you something to help you and make you feel better."

They got out of the car, and Jimmy, thinking that they were going into Best Buy to get him a phone, was confused when they entered Pets Smart.

They walked up to an employee who took them into a separate room to meet animals.

"Let me guess, you want a dog, don't you sweetie?" The employee smiled sweetly at Jimmy who shook his head frantically.

Jimmy had been terrified of dogs ever since he was 3. Their neighbors had one and whenever it saw Jimmy, it would run up, bark at him, and jump at him.

One time the dog knocked Jimmy over.

Jimmy shivered at the horrid thought and his father rubbed his back.

"No, we would like to look at the cats please." His father said.

"Oh..." The employee looked surprised, "Okay." She disappeared.

Eventually she came back with a squirming tabby cat.

Jimmy let it sniff his hand but it hissed at him and swatted his hand away.

The employee scolded the cat and took it away.

After a while, the employee returned with a cat who looked to be very confused.

"This one's been here for a while, usually we don't get to him when we show people the options." She said, handing the cat to Jimmy.
The cat rolled up on Jimmy's lap and started purring.

"What breed is this?" Jimmy's father asked.

"Er- he's a blue golden British shorthair."

"That's a mouthful." His father said, petting the cat gently.

Jimmy smiled as he picked up the cat.

"Does he have a name?" Jimmy asked.

The employee nodded, "Yes, we've been calling him Norman."

When my friend beta read my story, they said I got the homophobia down, please let me know what you think of it. And yes I did include Norman's cat breed and picture (because why not).