A couple of years ago I was dating another boy in secret. I had met his parents and they seemed so nice and he seemed so happy with them. I offered to help him come out thinking his parents would accept him instantly. That was the last time I saw him. Well that was until today.
There he was, my middle school boyfriend, in the flesh having trouble opening his locker. As if in a trance I approach. "Lance? You're Lance McClain right?"
He looks at me for a moment. He seems in a daze like the world around him is fuzzy. "Yes?" I don't think he remembers me from all that time ago. To a high schooler, 6th grade is like a distant memory.
"We were friends in middle school," I let out a breath I've been holding in for the past two years and a half. "Let me help you with your locker."
"Keith Kogane!" His eyes blow wide, and he gasps. "Have you grown out of faggot yet?"
His words come out of his mouth so naturally despite his broken English. It's as if he were an unprepared foreign exchange student asking me if I had finished a homework assignment. "I'm sorry what?"
"Are you done being faggot?" He adds more articulation to his words.
"I heard you the first time!" I feel so betrayed and angry that he'd ask me something like that the way he did. I understand being curious if I had changed my mind from middle since lots of people do, but calling me a faggot is complete uncalled for. "I just thought you'd know better than to use a word like that."
I glared at him only to realize his older brother Marco was now right behind him glaring right back at me. "Get the fuck away from my brother fag!" His words are dangerous. I feel my stomach flip-flop from the tension.
I quickly make my escape but not before I here Marco say, "You know the rules, I don't want you to be sent back" to Lance.
——
Lance and I have the same first hour and as it turns out, he's as dumb as bricks. His sister Veronica, the only one of his siblings who'd talk to me after Lance came out, told me he had started online school. Whatever online schooling he received must've been absolute garbage. Lance used to be in the top percent of class and now he's a fucking idiot.
Lance always had trouble with English since it wasn't his first language, but it appears he had gotten worse. School is a month and half in so we've already begun doing work. We're currently reading a short story titled "The Necklace." Each student must read a paragraph allowed to the class; although, when it gets to Lance, he stumbles on every word as if he's never seen them before. His voice is completely monotone as he struggles to read simple words like "carriage" or "franks."
The teacher makes him stop and the next person picks up where he left off. I stare at the back of his head trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with him. He's acting like he hasn't read a word since we last met. I sigh and continue reading along with the story.
——
"Shiro he's as dumb as the evil popular girl's best friend now," I huff throwing my hands up in the air. My brother works at the school I go to. He's been supportive of me since day one being gay himself. "Maybe ever worse. He talks all weird now too. It's like he just moved here."
"Maybe he's not used to speaking English." Shiro suggests. "He was homeschooled in a Spanish speaking household for almost three years. You can't really blame him."
"I don't know it's just weird." I sort of pout for a moment thinking about everything that had happened today. "Then there was his brother telling him that he knows the rules and he wouldn't want him to go back or something. I don't know, something fishy is going on."
