The Blood In Your Veins Is Twenty Below.

Max POV - Monday morning

School is shit. It makes my stomach turn. I hate all the people here. Everyone is so judgmental. At least the girls weren't so bad, compared to the guys they were practically angels. Typical guys only cared about lifting weights and getting chicks. If they even thought you had a slight attraction to other guys, they harass you. It's like they thought if they pushed you hard enough, they'd beat the gay out of you.

My 'friends' were like this. I know they'd drop me if I told them how I felt about the battered boy I used to pick on. I just hope they have a little love in their heart to change their ways. But I mean it's not like I want to be friends with people like that anyway. I had Ronnie and his friends now and that's all I need at this point in my life.

I was dreading going to school today. Of course I was looking forward to seeing Ronnie. I needed to see him, he kept me sane. Ronnie is my rock. But that doesn't hide the fact that I'm not looking forward to face my so called friends. As much as I don't want to care, I can't help but think about it. What would they say? Would they treat me like shit like how we did with Ronnie or would they just ignore me? I hope the second option. I want to show how strong I am, but it’ll still bug me to get picked on by people I used to call my friends. Something Ronnie knew so much about.

When I got to class, I saw my bright eyed Ronnie sitting near the back. Yes, my. He had an odd glow, which was different from the sad look he usually sported. He looked happy. It made me feel the same. I felt like a carbon copy of his emotions, whatever he felt would reflect on me as well. Whenever I saw him sad, that would dampen my mood. if he was angry, I became angry.

"Hey..baby" I said the last part quieter than the rest. I still felt a little out of my comfort zone saying that to another guy, I’ll get use to it though. He didn’t seem to care.

His smile seemed to get bigger. You could tell the surprise he felt hat I actually called him that in school. Even if I did say it quietly so not really anyone could hear, it was baby steps. I did still feel a small bit ashamed for liking guys, I had no problem with gays, but I never expected me to be one.

I'd never feel ashamed of Ronnie though. My feelings for him were increasing by the day. I couldn't call it love just yet, but it was definitely getting there. As cliche as it seems, he makes my heart skip a beat. I always feel so unbelievably happy whenever I see him, which is such a foreign feeling for someone like me. Oh god, I feel like such a pussy thinking like this.

"Hey Maxie" he spoke softly, as if he talked any longer he's break a window or something. He twitched as if he was going to get up but abruptly sat back down. I knew what he was going to do, he wanted to give me a hug. But he wasn't sure if I was ready to show affection in public yet. It was cute how sweet and respectful he was about that.

I bit my lip contemplating if I should go over and hug him or not. I couldn't resist holding him in my arms, he was so adorable I couldn't stand it. I reached down and held him tightly, earning gasps throughout the classroom. But I didn't care right now, he was in my arms and that's all that mattered. He nuzzled his soft face into the crook of my neck, making a shiver go through my body.

As we pulled away, you could see everyone looking at us. They were confused as to why me, one of the top people on the food chain, was hugging Ronnie, who was on the other end. I glared at them, signaling them all to look away and that’s just what they did. They were still scared of me, it was obvious. You could still hear the whispers circulating around the classroom, but we ignored them for the most part.

Lunch came soon enough, the part of the day I was dreading the most. I wasn't with Ronnie at this moment, but I was searching for him so I didn't have to face my friends on my own. I couldn't find him anywhere though. He wasn't at his usual place. I looked stupid searching around trying to find him. As I got closer to the other side of the school, I saw a bunch of people making a circle around a specific area. What was going on?

A whimper came from inside the circle and a loud smack across exposed skin. Another whimper sounded, as I heard a punch get thrown. I recognized it as Ronnie’s. As fast as I could, I harshly pushed aside the crowd to see what was going on. When I finally saw, he was on the ground trying to back away from the perpetrator, his nose was bloody and I could tell they had hit his precious face more than once. The red hand mark on the side of his cheek indicated that.

“You little fucking bitch” Chris glared at Ronnie on the cold ground, “What’ve you done to Max? You turned him into a little pussy ass faggot like you.” He stepped closer to Ronnie.

Ronnie was on his back, with his hands pushing him up, trying to drag himself to the lockers for support to help get up. Before he could reach, Chris put his foot down forcefully on his ribs. Ronnie's whimpers now turned into cries of pain. The scream was deafening and full of agony. An emotion I never wanted Ronnie to feel even again. It made me rush over and punched Chris in the face. He fell to the ground, knocked out. I went over to Ronnie and lifted him up bridal style. He was still crying softly in pain.

"Hold up, Green" I heard come from the front of the crowd. The person’s mouth it came from was another one of the guys I use to hang out with, Brandon.

"What are you a homo now? Like Radke?" The hate in his words were so clear. He came up to me, grabbing hold of Ronnie's arm, tight enough to leave a bruise. Ronnie cowered away from his touch, but couldn't get lose from his grasp. My hand snapped out prying Brandon's hand off of him. "Watch it, Green."

"Fuck off, Brandon."

"Really, man?" he smirked, "You're actually gonna drop us for.. that?" he nodded his head over to Ronnie in disgust. Like he was less than the dirt beneath our feet.

Out of everyone's surprise, I leaned down and placed a kiss on Ronnie's perfect lips, him immediately kissing back. The whole crowd let out a sharply drawn breath. The kiss held passion. It held dreams, my dreams. Being close to him, holding his frail body, protecting him from harm’s way, this was all I wanted. It proved to Ronnie that I had real feelings for him if I was going to give up my whole social status for him. Maybe now he'll trust me and be able to tell me all his secrets that he holds so dear.

"That answer your question, asshole?" I spat, kicking him right in the sack, right before walking out of the school and driving Ronnie to the hospital.