c h a p t e r t w o

Niel’s POV

    L.Joe and I entered school hand in hand. Students shot us disturbing looks, and whispered terrible things about us. But did we care? No.

    Ever since that day I confessed to L.Joe, the two of us were indestructible. We didn’t care about what other people thought of us, nothing could keep us apart. It felt as if L.Joe and I were the only humans on earth. Nothing mattered anymore - not as long as we had each other. 

    There was about 2 minutes left until the bell rung. L.Joe followed me to my locker and watched as I gathered my books for my first period class. I closed my locker once I was all set. 

    “You should head to class now,” I said. L.Joe smiled and nodded. “Okay, see you at lunch,” L.Joe pecked my forehead and I blushed. When he left, I heard a group of guys laughing. I spun around and realized they were laughing at me, probably because L.Joe kissed me. But it didn’t affect me. I shook it off and proceeded to my class.

    It was finally lunch time. The bell had just rung, and students fled into the hallways. I made my way to my locker. When I got closer to where my locker was, I realized there was a group of students surrounding it. What could they possibly be doing? 

    One of the students noticed me coming their way, and notified the rest of the group. They all scurried away, and I finally realized what they were doing. 

    “Queer” was written in big red letters across my locker. Tch, how pathetic, I thought to myself. How could students my age possibly be this immature. 

    I questioned why same love was still not accepted. I questioned why being in love was such a disgrace to society. I sighed and made my way to the janitor’s closet, grabbed a sponge, some soap, and a bucket, then headed to the bathroom, where I filled the bucket with water and hauled it to my locker. Students shot me glares; as if I was a monster. I arrived at my locker and started scrubbing. The spray paint was frustratingly hard to scrub off. I wiped the beads of perspiration from my forehead. 

    As I was scrubbing, I heard footsteps from behind me. I turned to see who it could be, and to my luck, it was L.Joe. He stood there shocked, it looked like he was mad too. 

    “L.Joe, don’t-“ “Who did this,” 

    “L.Joe, I said don’t worry about it. We were bound to get hate from some people. Remember, nothing can bring us down,” I said. After saying what was needed to be said, I was relieved that L.Joe had somewhat calmed down. “I guess you’re right, sorry,” I trapped L.Joe in my arms and embraced him warmly. L.Joe and I then headed to lunch. 

    About a week later, I happily pranced up the font steps of the school, expecting L.Joe to be waiting for me near the door, planting a kiss on my cheek. But; nothing. I knew something was wrong. 

     I head shouting coming from around the corner. I ran as fast as my feet could take me. When I arrived there, I saw L.Joe surrounded by a group of jocks. “Aw, poor L.Joe. You’re boyfriend can’t help you now,” One of the jocks teased, laughing when he said “boyfriend.” “Why are you doing this to me? Why do you people not accept the fact that two people of the same can love each other?” L.Joe seemed desperate to get out of this situation. I have to help him, I thought. 

    I marched confidently towards the crowd and pulled the leader of the group away. I landed a hard punch right on the centre of his nose. His friends stood there in shock, as did L.Joe. The jock held his blood-gushing nose and looked up at me. “Awww,” he mocked. “The Queer Couple are sticking up for each other,” “Enough of your bull, get away from us,” I spat. I grabbed L.Joe’s hand and dragged him into the bathroom. I spun around and examined his face.

    “Are you hurt? Where did they hurt you?” He pried my hands off of his face. “I’m fine,” he coldly replied. He paced around the bathroom until he finally spoke. “Niel, I love you. But I… I don’t think I can do this anymore,” I looked at L.Joe. “It’s just the first time this has happened. We’ve been together for what, 3 weeks now? And this stuff is just happening now. This could be the first and last time this happens. You’re gonna give up now just because a group of jocks were picking on you?” I admit, I was frustrated. How could he give up after one encounter? L.Joe was quiet for a while. 

    “You really want to throw what we have away and listen to those self centred s?” L.Joe stared at the ground, I could tell he was guilty. “L.Joe,” I walked towards him and held both of his hands. I looked at him in the eyes. “Don’t give up now. Sure, we’ll be through some ups and downs, but doesn’t it matter more who you spend those ups and downs with? We’ll support each other no matter what we go through. Okay?” I noticed L.Joe soften a bit. “Okay,” he agreed. I smiled and he returned it. The bell rung, signalling that we had to go to class. I pecked L.Joe on the lips one last time before heading to class.

    As L.Joe and I separated, I thought to myself, do we really need to keep living like this? Being hated by society; not being accepted? What did we, average human beings, ever do to deserve the kind of hate we get? Why were we not accepted? We’re just people in love.

[A/N:]

Heya guys! So, I apologize if this chapter kinda , I wrote most of it when I had free time in class xD