Lawn Boy

When I walked into the school, everything seemed pretty normal. No one was looking at me funny or whispering. I just went by them like normal. Things didn’t get back until I heard yells. I heard faggot calls. Then, I saw it. Asher was walking through the courtyard and they were hollering at him as he went, and like a stoning, they threw their trash at him. I ran over to him, he was crying. I tried to hold him, but he pushed me away.
“Don’t touch me,” he whispered.
I was hurt, but I understood. He wasn’t going through the easiest thing in the world.
“Just leave me alone,” he went on.
“Fine, fine, I’ll leave you alone. But just remember that I’m here if you need me.”

I walked away and tried to fight off the tears. I was looking down as I walked so no one would see. But I bumped into someone who happened to be Brenda. She was staring at me with an eyebrow arched and a mischievous smile.

“How could you do this to him?”
“You think Asher’s having a bad day? Wait until you see what I got planned for you.”
Suddenly Kelly and Lupe were in front of me.
“You leave him alone, Brenda,” said Lupe.
“This is none of your business, Guadalupe,” she said smartly.
“You mess with my friends, it is my business. Now step the fuck off, Brenda.”
“I was your friend once, remember? What happened?”
“I would never be friends with a bitch. Asher is my friend. You just came along with him. God only knows what he saw in you.”
“Obviously nothing, since he’s a faggot now.”
“Don’t make me hit you, Brenda,” said Lupe.
“Oh, give me a break, Lupe. You wouldn’t do anything to ruin that perfect high school record of yours.”
I could tell Lupe was furious, but couldn’t do anything about it. That Brenda really was a bitch. When she left, Lupe and Kelly turned to me.
“Oh my God, Max. I’m so sorry that I told her,” said Kelly. “I don’t know what I was thinking. It just slipped out.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “It would’ve come out sooner or later.”
“How’s Ash?” Lupe asked.
“Not good. I tried to talk to him, but he doesn’t wanna see me.”
“Maybe he’ll talk to us,” said Kelly.
“Maybe,” I said. “I just feel so helpless. I—I can’t stand just sitting and watching him go through hell.”
“Well, you have English with him, right,” said Lupe. “Maybe he’ll talk to you then.”
“ENGLISH! Lupe you’re a genius!” I wrapped my arms around Lupe in a grateful hug.
“What?” Lupe asked in confusion.
“Never mind, I can’t really say.”
“Well…I’m glad I could help.”
As soon as I got to homeroom, I asked my teacher to write me a pass to Mr. Perkins’ class. I told her that it was an emergency about an assignment and she gladly wrote me the pass. I got to Mr. Perkins’ class and he seemed pleasantly surprised to see him.
“I need your help,” I whispered to him.
“What’s going on?”
“We can’t talk here. Can we go outside?”
He announced to the class that he would be outside the door. He asked them to behave and then walked out with me.
“What’s going on Max?”
“It’s Asher,” I said.
“What about him?”
“His ex-girlfriend found out that we’re going out and now she’s on the war path. She told the whole school and now he’s the school pariah.”
“So, why did you come to me?”
“Asher’s not taking it too well. He needs advice from, you know…someone who’s…”
“Gay,” he finished. “You should be enough then.”
“But he won’t talk to me. He couldn’t even look at me this morning. You’re all he’s got right now.”
“You know I’m not supposed to do this, Max.”
“I know, Mr. Perkins. And I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t an absolute emergency.”
Mr. Perkins sighed and looked around. “I could get in big trouble for this, Max.”
“Mr. P, I love him…I can’t just stand around and watch him spiral into self-hate mode. I don’t wanna loose him.” I fought my tears, but it was no use. All I could see was Asher’s face as he walked through the crowd of insults.
Mr. Perkins patted my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay Max. I’ll talk to Asher.”
While I was walking back to my homeroom, two big guys in football jackets walked up to me. At first I didn’t really mind them, but they started to corner me.
“Hello, faggot,” said the one with blond hair.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Your head on a stick,” said the one with black hair.
“Listen, guys, I don’t want any trouble.”
Without any warning, the blond guy shoved his fist into my ribs and I hit the wall behind me. The pain was high, but nothing like the pain I got when I saw Asher’s sad face. I practically deserved that punch in the ribs for pushing Asher so hard. He never wanted to be out and it’s my fault that he is.
After the punch, the two jocks left. On the back of the blond guy’s letterman jacket, it said Wilson—as in Brenda Wilson. The blond guy was no doubt Brenda’s older brother that I vaguely heard something about on my first day of school here.
I dropped to the floor in my pain, holding my ribs. I couldn’t even move.