Falling Out of Line

I tried talking to Lewis about what happened, but he kept ignoring me. Jordan and his jock friends wouldn't stop teasing us about the newscast. It was embarrassing at first, but I realized that Lewis was getting hit with the torment much harder than I was. People kept laughing and shoving him and making kissy faces at him. It made my blood boil. And it was all because of fucking Kenneth.

Before I even knew what I was doing, Kenneth was laying flat on the ground and my hands were balled into fists. We had been walking across the quad, and now it felt like the entire campus had just froze. Everyone was staring at me.

Kenneth stood up and grabbed hold of my shirt collar, breathing through his teeth. I knew he was really pissed, but when I saw blood running out of his nose, I couldn't help but smirk. He touched his face and blood coated his fingertips. His glare cut through me, but he dropped me back on my feet. Some college student ran over and took Kenneth off to health services.

Ms. Ferriwether stormed over to me and immediately started chewing me out. She slapped me with like a month of detentions, and I had to report to the principal's office as soon as we got back to school. Normally, fighting in school is automatic suspension for ten days, but technically, we weren't in school and Kenneth wasn't a Cranbrook student. Good thing I didn't punch Jordan instead.

Seeing as I had punched our tour guide in the face, we all had to go back to the dean to see if someone else could show us around. I could hear everyone gossiping, wondering why I punched Kenneth, but I didn't really care what they thought.

I looked over to Lewis, who was walking very slowly at the back of our group, staring at the ground. I noticed that nobody was bullying him anymore, so that was good. I slowed my pace and went to walk beside Lewis. He looked up at me, but I couldn't figure out his expression. He didn't say anything, and I didn't know what to say, so we just walked in silence for a bit. The gossip was getting louder, now focusing on me and Lewis. Somebody whispered that I was probably jealous and hit Kenneth because he kept flirting with Lewis.

"Tyler."

I turned to Lewis.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you do that?"

I sucked in a breath. "I have no clue."

"What do you mean you don't have a clue?! Something made you hit him! You can't just go around punching people! He didn't even do anything!"

"What do you mean he didn't do anything?! He humiliated you!"

"No, Tyler. You humiliated me."

I stopped walking. "W...What?"

He sighed. "Before you came along, I could handle the teasing. Nobody really bothered me except for Jordan and a few of his friends. I think they were even starting to get bored with me. But then you transferred here and you just naturally draw attention to yourself, and because you hang out with me, you draw attention to me too. You know, I don't even know why you needed my help - you're plenty popular without me."

"Lewis..."

"Things would be better off if we had never met." He turned and walked off to rejoin the group.

I just stood there.

Did he... did Lewis hate me? Is it my fault that he keeps getting bullied? Maybe... maybe...

**

I was just walking out of the detention room for the first day of my sentence. The principal changed my punishment from a month to two weeks. I don't know why. Maybe because this was my first offense.

I stopped by my locker to pick up my history textbook for my homework. I heard people coming down the hallway but didn't think much of it. Lots of kids have extracurriculars after school.

"Hey Tyler."

I looked down the hall. Jordan and his jock friends were headed my way. I closed my locker and got ready to stand my ground. They don't usually pick fights with me, but with no adults around, I wasn't gonna risk it. They surrounded me at my locker.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"We wanted to talk to you about Lewis." Jordan said.

"What about Lewis?"

"We heard there was trouble in paradise." I glared at Jordan. "Hey, I don't care if you're fighting with your stupid boyfriend."

"Then why are you even talking to me about him?"

"We've got a proposition for you."

"A what?" I raised my eyebrow.

"A deal. We wanna make a deal with you."

I looked at the group of jocks. I was out-numbered and out-muscled, but it didn't seem like they wanted to beat me up.

"What kind of deal?"

"You're pretty popular now, wouldn't you say, Tyler?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So popular that you could date anybody that you wanted to, right?"

I eyed Jordan. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm not talking about me, faggot." He glared at me. "I'm saying you don't have to date Lewis. I mean, he's a pansy ass-"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence." I stepped up to Jordan. He was a good few inches taller than me, but I still stared him down. After a second, he just laughed.

"You think you got balls just because you decked that college dude? Don't get cocky, Tyler. I could still crush you into compost."

"I'm just surprised you know what compost is."

He shoved me against the lockers. I balled up my fists, preparing to fight even though the last thing I needed was to get suspended on top of having detention. But one of his friends grabbed Jordan's shoulder and held him back.

"Chill, dude. Remember why we're here."

Jordan listened to his friend and relaxed. The guy who spoke turned to me.

"Listen, Tyler. We don't want any trouble. We just want you to hear us out."

"Then tell me something I might actually want to hear."

"You need to ditch Lewis." He stated quickly.

"What? Why?"

"He's bad for your image. I know you enjoy being popular. It could be even better if you dumped Lewis. He only dragging you down."

"Wait, you want me to break up with Lewis so I can become more popular?"

"Not necessarily more popular, you'll just have access to more privileges. Get invited to the hottest parties, get on every teacher's good side, and of course, you'll be one of the bros."

"What are talking about?"

"Nobody likes that fag. He's an outcast for a reason. You can't hang out with him and still expect to call yourself king." Jordan spat out.

The other guy spoke again. "Kaitlyn loves you, Tyler. Every girl does. And you get along well with lots of the guys. We want to include you in our group-"

"-but not if Lewis is hanging off your dick."

I jumped forward, ready to get suspended, but the other jocks grabbed my arms and held me back. Jordan just kept that smug look on his face.

"Don't make this personal. We don't care if you're gay, Tyler," the other guy spoke. "We just think you could do better. We're the top dogs of Cranbrook. We have options. And we have standards. It's a simple choice. Break up with Lewis and enjoy the full perks of being part of the in-crowd, or stay with him and let his loserness rub off on you."

"You guys are nuts," I grabbed my backpack and shoved past them.

"It's your choice, Tyler."