The Boys and Girls in the Cliques

It was quiet for a long time as Erica simply stared at me. We had stopped walking, and we looked fools just standing in the middle of the sidewalk, me looking down and Erica looking at me.

"Oh my god, Bob," she spoke at last.

"I didn't know. And it must suck that me and Ginny are hitting on you and.... oh shit, what's everyone else is going to say..." she trailed off, realizing she was rambling.

Then out of the blue she jumped up and hugged me tightly. I was shocked, my arms dangling at my sides. I patted her back, never the one for affection.

"I feel so embarrassed right now," she mumbled into my chest, being about a head shorter than me.

"Don't be. It should've been the first thing I told you," I assured her.

She pulled away from me, "No I understand. You were probably totally scared and unsure of coming out after what I told you about our school, and I really just made it worse by saying that nobody will accept you when in reality that's probably not true, and I'm rambling again!" she said in frustration.

"No, seriously, it's okay. Just... don't tell anyone ,okay?" I told her as we started to walk again.

She nodded, as in she understood.

We were engulfed in silence once again. It wasn't an awkward one, we were just thinking about what had happened.

"So are going to tell me who you fancy?" Erica asked me with a smile.

I sighed, "It doesn't matter anyway, I'll never have a chance with him. He's probably the straightest guy in the school," I said.

"So?"

I didn't know what to say after that. She had a point.

"I like Ray," I mumbled incoherently while looking at my shoes, which were pimpin'.

"Mumble, mumble, I can't hear you," she said in a sing-song voice.

"I said that I liked Ray," I told her.

"Ray? As in Ray Toro? You're right you have no chance with him," Erica said, supportively.

"Oh thanks, get my hopes up won't you?" I teased.

Erica laughed. I just then realized what a great friend she truly was. It wasn't only that she accepted my sexuality, but she liked me before I told her. Then when I do tell her, she brushes it aside, along with the fact that she had a crush on a gay guy? That is simply amazing to me.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" she asked me.

"Nothin'," I said._____

"I'll see you tomorrow," Erica said as I walked up to my front porch.

"Yeah," I said and waved.

I walked in to find my great-grandfather on the sofa, watching TV.

"How was school, Bob?" he asked as I sat down next to him.

"Pretty good. Why are you watching Bay Watch?!" I asked him, as I saw Pamela Anderson run in slow-motion down the beach.

"There was nothing else on," my grandpa said quickly.

I laughed, "Oh, sure."

"Made any friends yet?" he asked me.

"Yeah. They have band," I told him.

"That's cool," he said.

"Well, I have to do my homework," I said to him as I ran upstairs to my room.

While I was doing homework I came to realize that I couldn't tell anyone else about my sexuality. If I didn't want to be the most hated kid Belleville, I couldn't. I made me sad, to think that I, a very open person, had to keep this from my friends. As of thinking this I wondered if there was anybody else in this school that was a closeted gay...