“I’m not gay...”

It was a typical Wednesday morning at the Price household. Jonah's dad, Albert, frantically putting his tie on, while Jonah's mom, Claudia, was brushing her hair. Kaiden was being the annoying little brother he is and hogging the bathroom. And Jonah, he was throwing his school supplies in his bag. Jogging downstairs, Jonah grabs his keys and makes his way out the door yelling a goodbye.

Pulling into a parking spot, he turns off the engine and grabs his bags. He starts walking to his first hour, Spanish. Luckily David is in that class, so it's not completely bad.

"You were so close to being late." David laughs.

"And yet, I wasn't."

"Okay class, abre tu libro de texto en la página 127."

And his next 4 classes were less exciting. For a second, he thinks it's because David isn't in them, but he shook the thought off his mind. He has other friends in his classes, but they don't make his heart rate pick up quite as David does. Of course, he will ignore that thought every time he has it. Oh well.

At lunch, he grabs his tray and sits down between his best friends, Tatiana and Jared. They have been friends for 7 years. He has acquaintances and friends, but they won't ever be as close as the trio. Even David doesn't know as much about Jonah as they do, but David is different. On the other side of the table, Abdiel and Rosalie chat about anything and everything. They've been dating since sophomore year. Jonah wants something like they have, but there is one thing about it that he doesn't want, he just can't put his finger on it yet.

"So, are you coming to my house after school? My mom has been dying for all of us to be together." Jared asks.

"Yeah, I'll be there," replies Jonah.

Tatiana speaks up, "Yeah, someone has to drive me though."

"Remind me again why you don't have your license yet." Jonah laughs causing Jared to laugh too.

"Shut up dickwad. At least I don't have a painfully obvious crush." She retorts. Jared glares at her.

"What? I don't even have a crush!"

"Yeah, sure buddy."

"Hey, guys," David speaks smoothly while sitting in the uncomfortable chair.

It startled Jonah which caused him to blush, at least that's what he's telling himself. Everybody but David noticed, but nobody said a word.

They talked among themselves while eating until the bell rang. The chatter somehow got louder in the cafeteria while everybody cleaned their mess and grabbed their bags.

Heading down the hallway with the mustard yellow lockers alongside David was probably one of Jonah's favorite parts of the day. David would always tell him some story from work and make hand gestures with a glint in his eye from the memory. Jonah would always stare maybe a little too much and nod his head. Sometimes, he catches himself looking at the smile on David's lips or the way his nose would crinkle. Having 6th hour together sure is a blessing in disguise.

"So, did you do the homework? Mr. Eck won't accept it late again." Jonah laughs.

"Yeah, yeah. I did the homework." pouting, David spoke, "You know, you should tutor me. It would help me in this class, and we could spend some time together." he smiles.

He felt a blush rise on his cheeks. Stupid David. "Yeah, sure. I mean as long as you need it." Jonah chuckles nervously.

They approach the classroom and the conversation fizzles down. They take their seats as Mr. Eck starts his lesson.

After school, Jonah heads to his shitty car and sees Tatiana standing by the passenger side.

"I got kicked out of Jared's car, looks like I'm riding with you."

"Okie dokie, just, don't touch the radio. Off-limits." he said pointing a finger in her direction."

"Aye-aye captain." rolling her eyes, she salutes.

Rolling his eyes right back at her, he gets in the car and slams the door, starting the engine.

They ride in relative silence, only the faint music filling the void.

Pulling into Jared's house, he shuts off the engine and stammers out of the car.

After ringing the doorbell, Jared answers with his mount stuffed with pizza.

"My mom bought pizza."

"Alright Mrs. G! Comin' in clutch I see you."

"Oh, you know me Jonah, gotta come in "clutch" all the time."

"Mom, I-"

"I'm just kidding, take it and go, vultures." she laughs.

"Yes, ma'am." Tatiana snorts.

Once they finished stuffing their faces with pizza, they talked about whatever was in their minds. That's why Jonah was attached to them in the first place, they were easy to talk to.

Time flies, up until Jonah remembered their conversation from earlier. "Wait, hold up. Tahtiana what did you mean when you said I had a crush? I mean, as far as I know, I don't.

"Now look what you did," Jared mumbled under his breath, but they could both hear it anyway.

She looks at Jared, "Shut up, " then looks back to Jonah. "I didn't mean anything by it, " she chuckles. "Just messing with you."

"Okay, even I knew that was a lie."

"Jared I swear to-"

"Yeah, no, try again."

"Okay, it's just, " Jared gapes at her, "you look at David differently. And, I think you know it too. And we didn't wanna assume-"

"Don't bring me into this!"

"Shut up! But yeah, it's just that, yep."

Jonah doesn't think he's ever been this dumbfounded in his entire life. And he did math up until junior year.

"You're gonna catch flies..." Jared mumbles.

"I'm not gay..."

"Okay, then if you say you aren't then you aren't. What's done is done." Tatiana rambles.

Another hour or two passes, Jonah isn't sure. He's been in his head this whole time. He thinks that they could be right for a second, but that thought scares him. He doesn't want to be gay. He doesn't find anything wrong with it, he just assumed he's straight.

Jared cackles, "Dude, we should definitely do that one day."

"For real, TikTok knows us I swear."

"I'm gay..." Jonah mumbled.

"What was that?" Jared turns his neck to see Jonah.

"I'm...gay," he says, slightly louder. They heard him.

Tatiana gasps and jumps up to pull Jonah into a hug. Once she pulled away she looked at his face. He was very close to tears.