We Are Young

*RICH'S POV*

That's it! I have had it!!! I saw saw James yesterday in the parking lot with some older guy and he purposely ignored me! That was the final straw.
I stormed up angrily with my feet pounding against the hard school hallway floor and made my way to my locker; where I saw the raven douche still getting into his locker in a hurried rush. I gritted my teeth together harshly. "Not this time," I growled to myself in a murmur.
I ran quickly over to his locker and, before he could register what was happening to him, I spun him around and cornered him with his against his blue locker. Both clenching fists were placed between him head so he couldn't escape from me this time. His horror filled eyes widened at me but I didn't give a single damn about his fear of being caught by me. He shouldn't have ignored me the first place. This was his fault I was beyond frustrated at him. He needed to talk to me so now I'll make him whither he wants to or not.
"Explain. Now. You have no clue how angry I am with you."
I watched the boy swallow nervously and look down at the ground with my interest. I guess I needed a new approach since he doesn't get the message the first time.
I banged my fist loudly into the rusty locker which made the older jump a tad bit. "I lied for you; now you have to tell me why I had to do it. Or else I'm telling your mom that I covered for you, James," I snapped in a threatening tone for him. Maybe that would get through James's thick skull.
James let out a loud sigh before deciding to look at me in the eyes. He opened his mouth and finally got out, "I-I got a job and I'm seeing someone - but my mom doesn't know. Please don't tell her, Rich! She'll kill me!"
I backed off a bit in shock by the way his voice sounded and traveled to my ears. James's voice was incredibly deeper than the last I talked to him. How is that possible at all? Usually his voice was crackly and pretty high! But this wasn't the case this time; his tone had changed drastically. Now that I look at him properly, he looked a bit taller and had a chiseled chin too. Oh..My..God..I'm looking at James's face closer and...I see little dark hairs over his upper lip that formed a thin mustache!
"You're...transitioning..." I gasped in realization.
James nodded at me slowly, "And I had chest surgery."
Everything started to fit together completely. James was transitioning into male with Testosterone and had top surgery. No wonder he had given me all his old binders. He no longer needed them since he no longer has a chest. James kept all this from all me. Why did he hide this? Did he think I would get jealous or something that he got to have all that done first? Or did he just not want me to know at all? Was he nervous i would reject him? Dear Jesus, is that why he broke up with Cole?! Because he knew Cole was unsupported so he left the bitch? Maybe that's why he didn't tell me...
Calming down as fast as I could, I crossed my arms tightly above my stomach. "Who's the new guy that I saw?" I asked first. It seemed like needed to be asked first since it looked less uncomfortable to talk in the hallway about.
James picked up his black back pack off the ground and I'm guessing I made him drop it earlier when I scared the crap out of him. "His name is Damien," James replied in full honestly to me. Good 'cause I was done with his lies.
"Does he know?" I questioned patiently and very happy him and I were making progress out of this full out investigation I was constructing here currently.
Nodding once again James said, "Yeah, all of it. Look, you can not tell my mom about him, Rich", in a high begging tone.
I scoffed in amusement. "Why not? Seriously, James, you've been lying to everyone. So why shouldn't I tell your mom?" I growled.
Once again, James looked like a deer in a headlight and was horrified by my response easily. "Please don't!" He begged even more out of me.
"Why not?" I repeated to him louder than the last.
His eyes screwed shut in frustration, which he had NO reason to be agitated at me since he's lied to me for the last two months straight. "Damien's 24! I met him two months ago after the pizza dinner we went to! Cole assaulted me and humiliated me in the boys' bathroom so I ran off! I got drunk and went home with Damien that night. We haven't slept together at all since then, but we're seeing each other romantically," James finally rushed out in confession all at once. He was yelling at first but in the middle of his speech his voice quickly got a tad bit quieter.
I took in all the information James told me and got it to process in my mind. I sighed finally in defeat of the older, "Okay..were you ever going to tell me? I thought you were my friend and I've had a hard time without you around. I missed you, James. I even hit Cole in the face for you yesterday."
James took me into a tight boa constrictor kind of hug with full emotion. "I'm so sorry, Rich. I missed you too and I just didn't know how to tell you yet about all of it," James whispered to me.
Returning the gesture, I wrapped my arms around James too.
After a minute someone shouted, "Queers getting handsy, everybody!", and we then knew who it was. Cole.
We instantly pulled away from each other in a millisecond without hesitation. I noticed the bandage that was tapped to the jackass's nose and I smirked evilly, "Need to me to break that nose again, pretty boy? Because I can't wait to do it again."
I felt a tug on my arm. "Racheal, let's stay out of this."
I turned around only to see Josh trying to pull me away from the big group of boys and James. I yanked myself from my boyfriend suddenly making him look clueless. "Rach, this isn't your fight. He's just after James. There's no reason to get involved," Josh tried to convince me.
I shook my head violently. "Stop it, Josh! It's Rich! And this is my fight! I'm tired of Cole dissing James as if he isn't a person. He has the right to have respect and be who he is. He isn't hurting anyone!" I shouted. I finally turned to Cole in a pissy movement, "James is a guy, so let it go."
Josh balled his hands into a fist. "Rach, stop. Leave this alone."
"It's RICH! You're such a coward, Josh! You'd rather someone get hurt by this asshole than stand up to him! He wants to call us queer and you're more worried about me being normal and staying out of it! Well, get over it! I'm trans too! And I'm not pressing it deep down anymore because I'm afraid!" I screamed loudly with tears of anger pouring down from my eyes and fall from my face.
Over my shoulder I saw James up close and personal with Cole. For a brief moment I forgot about him and Cole being here. James pushed Cole back a bit roughly, "Gunna do anything, Cole? Come one, where's all the guts you had a minute ago? Have any courage left to call me queer again?! NO?! Didn't think so, princess!" James yelled.
I saw Cole back off slowly before opening his big mouth again, "You're lucky you're a chick. My mother taught me not to hurt girls", and like that he was knocked over by one punch in the stomach from James.
"Well, look here, Cole. I'm no girl, and you know it. And look who just kicked your ass - it was me. So call me a girl again and see what else happens to that jacked up face of yours, Cole," James spat out to the asshole.
James turned to me with a small smile, "Wanna join me and Damien? He's parked out front."
I nodded and followed him outside to a large truck.
"Who's this. James?" the guy in the front seat of the truck asked.
James opened up the door and hopped in the middle seat next to the older man. I followed suit getting into the passenger seat and James kissed the man's cheek. "This the guy I was talking about. This is Rich," James introduced, "Rich, this is Damien. He's my boyfriend."
Damien put a dark pair of sunglasses over his eyes and looked to James in question. The raven teen rolled his eyes with a bigger smile. "We can trust him. Rich's cool," James stated.
"That's good enough for me."
Damien pulled out of the school parking lot and James turned up the music so it was louder. I heard some band playing, but I enjoyed it. By the looks of it, James and Damien knew every word of this certain song and it was nice to enjoy even more.