Maxine Nelson • heartstopper ff

13. arguement

Max POV

"Guess what," I said as I sat on the table in the canteen where we normally sit.
"What?" Darcy asked.
"I came out to my mum last night," I said.
"Omg Max! That's amazing!" Tara said.
"Yeah, it was a huge sloppy mess with a lot of crying from me but I did it," I said.
"That's amazing." Elle said.
"Yeah, I was surprised how supportive she was. I was so scared of what she was going to say," I said. "But Nick also came out yesterday," I told them.
"Oo! That's just reminded me! I need to rename the group chat," Darcy said.
"What are you gonna call it?" Elle asked.
"I don't know...any suggestions?" Darcy said.
"Urm...I'm not sure," Tara said.
"Oh! I have it!" Darcy said.

She was typing it into her phone and then all our ringtones went off

Darcy changed the group chat name to SLAY SISTERS🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
"Really?" Tara said disapprovingly.
"It's cute," Elle said.

It was our last lesson and we we're all being given permission forms.
"What's this for?" I asked.
"Oh, it's the year 10 and 11 Paris trip," Elle told me.
"Cool," I smiled.

•••

"Oh, you got one too," Nick said looking at the slip at I was taking out of my bag.
"Yeah," I said.
"What have you got?" Mum asked walking into the room.
"Oh, permission slips for the year 10 and 11 Paris trip," Nick said.
"Oh, that'll be nice. Maybe you could meet up with your dad," Mum suggested.
"Rather not," I muttered under my breath.
"And why not?" Nick asked me. I rolled my eyes and turned to him.
"Because he hates me," I said.
"He doesn't hate you," Mum said.
"Well, he doesn't like me," I said.
"And why not?" Nick asked.
"Because Nicholas, Max is only my name because dad wanted a boy. So I was a disappointed before I was even born," I told him.

Mum and Nick stared at me.
"You think I didn't know that? Oh please it was so obvious. He treated me completely differently to you and David," I said. I then walked over to grab my cup out of the cupboard and turned the kettle on.
"Let's be honest, I'm probably the reason he left," I said.
"Max, you know it wasn't because of that," Mum said.
"Ok," I said and poured the hot water from the kettle into my cup.

•••

The next few weeks we're really stressful. This is because of our GCSE's. I had been revising non-stop and having exams. I had burnt myself out.

"And done! I've finished all my GCSE's!" I announced as I walked into the living room.
"Me too!" Nick said behind me.
"Congratulations! Both of you, I'm so proud of both of you," mum said.
"I'm so glad it's over, it was really stressful," I said collapsing on the sofa.

We watched some tv and I fell asleep from the exhaustion of the exams. I could finally sleep without worrying constantly.

I felt my body slam up to the side of the sofa.
"Jeez ok I'll just move!" I complained and opened my eyes.

David was there and he'd pushed me up against the arm of the sofa.
"Hello, Maxine," He said.
"Sup David," I said half asleep.
"Is that the right way to talk to me? Especially after I've been away in uni?" He asked.
"Oh I'm sorry. Hello David," I said.
"Much better," he smiled to himself.

I lifter myself up a bit and noticed I was still in my uniform.
I jumped up over the arm of the sofa and walked upstairs. I put on a hoodie and a pair of jogging bottoms and came downstairs. I flopped on the sofa and turned that tv on.
"So, your gay?" David asked.
"Well...yeah," I said matter of factly.
"Well, we always knew you were a disappointment so I'm not surprised," David said.
"Yup, that's me the disappointment," I said sarcastically.
"You know sarcasm is the lowest for of whit,"
"But the highest form of intelligence," I said.
"How dare you speak to me like that you bitch!" He yelled and whacked me across the face.

I stood frozen in shock. David didn't say anything either. The next thing I did was walk out of the house, grab my bike and rode it away.

I knew something like this was going to happen! I lay down on the grass in the park and stared at the clouds in the sky. They we're pretty. I watched the sunset going from orange to a darker shade of blue. Staring at the clouds and sky calmed me down. It made me feel happy and even though I was hurting deep inside, it made me forget about it all for a second.

Before it got to dark I decided to head home. When I'd cycled back, I slowly opened the door. I heard some raised voices. I snuck upstairs so I didn't get caught. I didn't like to hear all the shouting. It made me uncomfortable and scared. I tried to hide under my duvet but I still heard it.

"How did you even find out David?" Nick yelled.
"She posted it on her private story dumbass," David pointed out. God! I forgot David was on that. It only had people I trusted like: Darcy, Tara, Nick, Charlie, Elle etc.
"Well! There's nothing wrong with her being gay!" My mum said.
"Yes there is! Now I really understand why dad left us! He never liked her and obviously now with him leaving and me leaving the girl's gone mad, she's filling herself with all these lies about sexuality and it's just wrong!" David said.
"Do you even know why she is lesbian?" Nick asked. David paused. "Yeah that's what I thought! She was abused by her boyfriend. She couldn't deal with that and she couldn't deal with having another boyfriend. But you know what else happened while you were away.Max stopped eating for a week before she told everyone about her sexuality because she was so scared at what everyone would think and how people like you would treat her!"

There was a long pause.
"Well that's stupid! Not all boys are like that! She's just overreacting as per usual, don't you remember when she was 10 and fell down the hill in the park on her bike. She told us she was in such pain that she couldn't walk. Then she was walking fine the next day like nothing had happened," David said matter of factly.
"I can't believe you on times!" Nick said in shock.
"You know what! I heard Max come back. Let's see what she thinks," David said.
"No David! Don't," Mum said but I could already here the stamping upstairs.

I felt the light from the landing leak into my room and the covers pulled off me and on to the floor.
"So Max, why are you gay?" He asked.
"Because I'm attracted to girls and not boys," I told him.
"That's utter bullshit!" David yelled.
"It's not...it's how I feel," I told him.
"David! Can you give it a rest," my mum said.
"Fine," he said stepping down but he glared at me the whole time he walked out of my room.