Status: Finished

Bent

Partners

At least my parents weren’t home the next morning. They’ve been uncomfortable around me ever since that party in sixth grade. Every day I stood in front of a mirror and told myself “I’m not a dyke, I’m not a dyke.”I did my best to never notice a girl in that way. Sometimes I did anyway though. No one had bothered me on the way to school, but someone pushed me as I got off the bus. Already bent forward by my heavy backpack, I fell off the first step and landed sprawled on the ground. Cruel laughter echoed around me.
I hate every single one of them.
As my sleeve rubbed up against my arm I winced, but told myself to endure the pain.

I went to History, my favorite class, my safest class. Mrs. Justin doesn’t take crap from anyone, not even Mallory. She treats me like I’m a human being. “Good morning, Will. How was your day?” She smiled at me. “Oh, fine. You?” “Very good! I watched a special on the History Channel.” She grinned at me. “We’ll be learning a lot of exciting new topics.” I smiled back and sat down next to Blake, a quiet kid who didn’t outright bully me. “Settle down, settle down,” Mrs. Justin ordered. When we did she smiled and laced her fingers together. “Today we’re going to begin a new unit on the Renaissance, one of the times when humans actually got it right.” The class laughed lightly and waited for her to continue. “I’m assigning a month long project to be done in school.”

Some people groaned, but I was excited. The Renaissance is fascinating. “I’ll be assigning partners so you can help each other.” My excitement vanished as I glanced nervously around the room. Who on earth would want to be partners with me? She read off a list, putting students together randomly. “Will, go with Pennylee.”Oh fuck. I raised my head. “I really don’t need a partner. She can go with someone else.” God forbid I should work with her, the girl I’d had my first crush on....I squashed that thought away. I’m not a dyke. Mrs. Justin frowned at me and shook her head. “All partnerships are final.” I buried my face in my hands as the class went on.

“Back with your girlfriend, dyke bitch?” asked Paul, a kid I barely even knew. I slipped past him and headed into the hallway, bracing myself for all the comments.

There were a lot, and they started taunting Pennylee a little bit too. I sort of felt bad for her. When I got home I had thrown the day behind me, and I logged back onto Facebook. Linc had replied right after I got off. ‘Oh my God. Please don’t! There are things to live for, I swear!’ I laughed darkly to myself and replied, ‘No, not really. Ha, just kidding. I was partnered with my ex best friend today.’ I logged off and did homework.