Chapter 24

Whitney

A smile lit my face when familiar chords filled my ears. Matthew held the glossy, red guitar in his arms, putting all his concentration on the strings. We were alone in the band room, and I barely had any time to react when I felt a hand pull my arm in. He plucked the instrument flawlessly, a wonderful melody bouncing off the walls.

"You remember this song?" he mused, his pitch black orbs shining,"I played it for you at the club presentation two years ago."

My head tilted, trying to remember the event that took place but no memory came to mind. The hopeful look that displayed on his face made me pity him, leaving me with no choice but to lie to save him the embarrassment.

"Of course, that was really sweet of you to do."

"Oh thank God, I thought you'd forgotten." he joked, humor evident in his tone.

If only he knew- I thought to myself, pressing my lips into a thin line. The boy continued to play the song, the sudden dramatic change in tenor capturing my attention more. I started to remember the song clearly, fragments of it recreating the memory.

It was two years ago. The sun had just set, and the metal chair I sat on felt cold on my bare thighs, making me adjust my skirt.  We were outside where most of the special occasions were held. People were busy setting up the stage, while the others who didn't take part of the committee sat as an audience.

Club presentation wasn't a mandatory thing for the students to attend, but those who were considered 'popular' chose to stay and when they stayed, so did the rest. Matthew had asked me to go to the night's event, saying that he had a surprise planned for me. If he hadn't, I would've done my normal routine which was go home and nap before I did my homework.

Lola was chattering something about college that seemed far from us back then, but recurring and so stressful to us now.

"I'm so torn between the two, you know? Like I love law and fighting for justice, but then medicine is just there. It's my passion and I already have the support of my parents on it, but law...law is my calling. Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

"Mhm, yeah." I nodded, my chin on the palm of my hands, pretending I was just a bit interested. She continued on blabbering, and my eyes momentarily fleeted to the group of people wearing an all purple uniform.

I spotted Delilah, the head cheerleader's second in command, and her sister Amara arguing over something. Their faces were heated with tension, Delilah's eyes rolling as Amara debated. Blair was by her side, looking bored at the fight that unraveled before her.

A boy suddenly came up to them, wrapping an arm around Blair who jumped at the feel of someone putting their hands on her. When she saw who it was, her shoulders fell and relaxed. It was Lynn Brewster, the captain of the basketball team.

He had a grin plastered on his face as he spoke to her. For a minute, I thought they were dating judging by the comfortable presence Blair had with him. Would Blair date him? He honestly didn't seem like someone she would go for. Sure, he had looks and popularity, but Blair didn't seem like a girl who would settle for a high school boy, regardless of their status.

The stage lights blinded our vision for a few seconds and my eyes narrowed at the interruption. Our music teacher came up on stage to introduce to us the first performance by the Glee club which I had recently quit at the time.

The tune of 'Defying Gravity' from the musical Wicked started to play. I was offered to sing the song solo originally, but I had refused because of my backhand plan to leave the club.

I loved music and singing with all my heart, but when my favorite teacher who ran the club decided to resign from her job, I lost my ambition as well.

Matthew's laughter cut me off from the flashback, and I saw him snickering down at something on his phone. The guitar he was holding now rested on his lap and I was coming back from my trail of thoughts.

"What's so funny?" I asked him, curious to know where his attention was at.

"Oh, one of my friends just sent me this video. Look," he brought the phone closer to share with me and my eyes widened with mortification at what it was he was laughing at.

He pressed play and in the video was someone I recognized to be often terrorized by the older batches. He was a freshman who publicly came out years ago, doing his absolute best fighting not to hide it. He knew the consequences of opening up about his sexuality and yet he still did to show the school that there was nothing wrong with being gay. What pierced my heart even more was that he was Lola's younger brother.

The men's varsity team, who were the most frequent people behind his torture, had circled around him and the boy looked like he was nearly going to piss his pants. They were all picking at him, throwing awful comments and one even went out of their way to throw his bag in the dumpster and shove him in it.

Another laugh rippled through the room and anger surged me as I grabbed his phone and slammed it on the ground. The look of surprise that overcame on Matthew's face disgusted me. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you think this is funny?"

His lips parted like a fish out of water, and it took all power in me not to slap him right then and there. "Whit, I-"

"How would you like it if you were in his position? If you were the one being thrown around and bullied?" my teeth grinded, feeling a flame light up in my chest, "That's terrible, Matt! You're a shit person."

He yelled back to match my fury. "Why are you getting mad at me like it's my fault he's being bullied? He brought this on himself the day he announced he was a fag."

"What did you just call him?" my jaw slacked, taken by the amount of ignorance and stupidity in his words.

"Whitney, let's face it. You have no room here in Belleview if you're gay. You'll be burned at stake like a witch, and he knew what would happen if he came out. Homosexuality is a sin against God and we don't need that kind of shit roaming around us." he stepped back with his hands in the air, looking completely done with the situation.

I shook my head with fervor, heat rushing to my throat. "It's people like you who cause others to kill themselves. You're a fucking monster," the anger that coursed through me was unimaginable that even I didn't know I had the capability to get that mad. "Don't preach to me about religion when I know for a fact you're gonna rot in hell."