Just Another Ordinary Day... Right?

“Well that was as boring as I imagined it to be,” grumbled James as he and the guys walked out of History an hour later. “Who really needs to know about stuff that happened years ago, anyway?”

The guys just rolled their eyes at him and followed the crowd down the two flights of stairs to the corridor by their home room.

“Where to now?” asked Jayy, turning to look at them.

“No idea,” confessed Ben, as Sam rummaged through his pockets for his timetable. “To be honest, we were just gonna ditch and not show up today at all”.

“Why did you show up then if you were going to ditch?” asked Jayy, with a small frown.

“I dunno,” shrugged Ben. “To see how long it'd take for us to get kicked out again, I guess. That's what we usually do”.

“Why would you want to get kicked out?” asked Jayy, taking the crumpled timetable from Sam.

“Why stay somewhere that you're instantly labelled and hated because you don't fit in with what people are taught is normal?”shrugged Danny.

Jayy looked up from the piece of paper in his hands, and looked up and down the corridor, seeing all the different groups that were waiting outside the classrooms... The jocks only talking to jocks, the cheerleaders only talking to cheerleaders, the geeks with their noses in their textbooks...

Jayy sighed and scrunched up the piece of paper, throwing it over his shoulder.

“Fuck it!” Jayy exclaimed. “Let's get out of here!”

The guys blinked and looked at him in surprise.

“What?!” questioned Cameron.

“I said, let's get out of here,” stated Jayy. “You were right. Why stay somewhere where you're hated just cause you can't be pigeon-holed by society? I've had to deal with that every day I've been at this school. I've had my ass kicked every day for three years just for being me!”

“But you survived it this long,” pointed out Sam. “Why change now?”

“Because I thought I had to put up with it. That I had to just smile and pretend that the names and the beatings don't bother me... Not anymore,” resolved Jayy. “I'm just going to walk away and never look back”.

“Are you totally sure you wanna do that?” asked Ben, looking a little worried. “What about lessons? I mean, from what I saw in History, you're pretty smart. Do ya really wanna give all that up?”

“There's online courses,” shrugged Jayy, getting his little notebook from the front pocket of his backpack and a pen. “I'll just do those. I'll still learn and I'll be safe”.

The guys looked between each other as Jayy furiously scribbled away in his notebook, before he ripped the page out and folded it neatly in half.

“I'll be right back,” grinned Jayy as he rushed down the corridor to a row of lockers.

“What the fuck is he doing?” muttered Danny.

“I'm sorry CJ,” whispered Jayy as he slid the note into the slats on one of the lockers. “I'll come back for you”.

With tears in his eyes, Jayy walked back to the guys, who had been trying to pretend they hadn't been watching him.

“You definitely sure ya wanna do this, Jayy?” asked Ben, noting the tears in Jayy's eyes. “It's a big decision”.

“I'm doing it,” nodded Jayy. “You don't have to come with me. I'm not forcing you”.

“We just don't want ya to look back one day and realise you've made a mistake,” said Danny softly.

“I've got nothing to stay for,” admitted Jayy. “Everyone around here wouldn't even notice I was gone... Even if they did, they'd just congratulate themselves for getting rid of the “fag”... They'd be happy”.

The guys all frown as Jayy started to walk towards the end of the corridor where the exit to the school parking lot was.

“Wait!” yelled Danny as Jayy pushed open the door, but it was too late. As soon as the door was opened a few inches, the fire alarm started to sound through the whole school.

“Fuck!” yelled the guys, running towards the door. “Go! Now!”

They all bundled out the door, letting it slam shut behind them just as the classroom doors started to open.