I can feel my stomach eat itself, but even the familiar wave of low energy doesn’t alert me that my blood sugar is low.“Noel…?”“Hm?”I snap to Reign’s face, I don’t even know how I got here, in class.“Why do you have your suitcase here? Do we have a presentation?”“What? No.”My head turns to take in my surroundings. I could have sworn the room was empty, but everyone's gaze is on me, staring warily at my suitcase.“You are freaking out the class with the suitcase, hide it.”Reign says as he takes his jacket off and places it on my luggage, hiding it from plain sight.How… how did I even get here?“No, uh...”I pause to swallow the panic at the unanswered questions.It’s happened before, being spooked out of my mind, that I find my body working on autopilot, that is. The last time it happened; I found myself halfway across town at midnight in the town’s library that doubled as a queer hangout.“I need a new place to stay.”The partial lie comes off easily as I swallow the rising bi
One, two, three…I count my heartbeat like a chant, hoping that it would distract me from the heat coiling up my body, but despite my attempt at reason, my head moves towards Beaumont first, causing the static surrounding us to burst to life as electricity, the first flavour to fill my mouth, engulfs me the moment our lips touch.Yet, despite the delicious sensations flooding my nerves, his lips remain hard and unyielding, unwilling to react to me as if to tell me I imagined the tension.The only thing that gives him away is his breath; it’s definitely rougher… faster.Taking that as encouragement, I move my lips harsher against his as if to pry them open forcefully, but he still refuses to part them.Cold seeps into my veins at the blatant rejection.Oh God! Oh no, did I really hallucinate everything?How horrible would a straight person, correction, a homophobic straight person feel if some gay guy kissed them while they were beating the crap out of them?Ooohh....He’s going to hit
Bang!I slam the dorm door open so hard it rebounds off the stopper.My clothes—drenched and sticky. It did not rain today; it was a perfectly sunny day.My shirt—torn. Some girl yanked it off my frame while I was weaving through a crowd to make it down the hall for my next class; her apology, a rusted pin and ‘advice’: ‘Maybe a different store will have better stitching.’My body—bruised. The hallway suddenly became an obstacle course. I was tripped sixteen times in the span of three minutes; the last three ‘trips’ got me. My elbow hurts, my knee is scraped, and my forehead has a bump.But the worst! The straw that broke my freaking back!! I fell asleep in class, and some bitch, yes bitch, cut my hair with what appears to be safety scissors. The chunks are so uneven that it's impossible to pass it off as ‘on purpose’. Do they know how long I had to wait for my curls to form a decent hair style?“Jesus Christ. You look like you just crawled out of a sewer.”I glare at Beaumont, the cau
Run.That’s the only word to register in my mind when the raining glitter finally ceased and his green eyes locked with mine. Instantly, I turned to the window behind me, understanding there was no way he would let me pass him by the door.Scrambling down the fire escape was easy; everything was up to its prime state since it was a new building. Without looking back, from the moment my feet hit the gravel, I ran with all my might to my next class.**“No, the hell not.”Professor Armand says without even taking her eyes off her notes.“But-”“You do not enter my class after I have arrived.”Her dark brown eyes finally look up at me through the gap between her glasses.“Out. Mr Vale. Try again tomorrow.”She finalises before her eyes turn back to her notes, and she continues to teach as if I were not standing by the door sweating and panting my lungs out.She is also, unfortunately, the head of the fashion department, meaning I should be grateful she didn’t say ‘try again next week’.W
NOEL"So then what?"Reign asks, quirking his brow."So ‘then what’ what? The ‘Reign Alister’ is listening to my complaints?”I retort as I keep my eyes on our surroundings. We are in the quad, walking to the fashion department, and because my now-viral post has mixed reviews, I need to watch where I walk.Why the hell does homophobia come in popular packages?The first sign that I screwed up was the girl who threw smelly cheese on my coat as soon as I left the dorm area—I had to change to my cheap outfit. All my outfits are thrifted and cheap, so I guess the correct term is ‘cheaper’ outfit.“Talk to me, Noel; what happened after?”Huh, it's unlike Reign to listen to what I have to say if I have no intention of taking my clothes off in the next few seconds.“We lived happily ever after. What do you think happened? I told him the queer community has my back, basically bluffed through it, but I mean, if I post
"You are my roommate?"I ask as I swallow the drool pooling in my mouth at the sight before my eyes; even with his chest now covered, his biceps are strained enough to my liking, and this is entirely non-inclusive of his beautiful face."I said ‘no’. Find a new room."“Wait, what? Me find a new room? I unpacked before you.”I defend, but he scowls.“As if that can stand as a defence.”He grumbles before rolling his eyes."At least make it less obvious my presence repulses you. You are the student body president, for Christ's sake, wasn’t equality your campaign theme?""Shut up, let me think.”He says before heading back into our room.Of course, I follow the big bear-like man who seems terrified of my fruity self.“I’ll find you a new roommate; I'm not sleeping with a f*ggot."“Again, with the ‘F’ word. One more time, I dare you.”His gaze turns sharply to me, and realising I have his attention, I continue.“And news flash, I am not leaving. Since you hate me so much, you move.”"Wha