12. Have you gone gay for him ?

Ethan's P.O.V

 The hour before lunch, history rolls around. I take my seat in the center of the second last row as none of the four jerks are with me during this hour to my greatest relief. But history is not a subject of my interest. So again I can't relax during this hour. And during my hours of interest like English and science, any one of those bitches will be there to annoy me. Amelia is the one whom I dread the most and she shares three classes with me.

 While I'm getting my books out, I notice Nate rush in through the doors. His eyes lock with me for a moment as he scurries to the back of the classroom. He nervously looks around me, probably to see whether my friends are with me and when he figures out I am alone, he takes his seat behind me.

 I don't turn around or look at Nate. Because the people in this class would be secretly watching me, especially girls and if they see any interaction between me and Nate, the news would soon reach any one of them. After that, I will have to explain. So I look down and sit pretending like I didn't see him.

 Soon enough the teacher, Mr. Jacob arrives and starts the class. After a good ten minutes of listening to the lecture, I feel bored. I rest my head on the desk and close my eyes.

 “Mr. Vance,” someone calls, and I open my eyes. I look around to see the classroom empty. Soon I realize the person who called me by my last name was none else than Mr. Jacob. I stand up awkwardly as it's clear that the lunch bell rang and everyone left.

 Mr. Jacob glares at me as I walk towards him after taking my book. “You were sleeping the whole hour!” he snaps at me, unimpressed.

 “No Mr. Jacob, I listened the first ten minutes,” I protest with a small grin.

 Mr. Jacob frowns. “Well Ethan, I see the greatest possibility of you failing in my paper.”

 “Sorry sir, I promise I would listen next time,” I say rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, a yawn following involuntarily.

 Mr. Jacob leaves a sigh. “Anyway, to your information, we discussed a very important assignment while you were getting your beauty sleep over there. Everyone got one or two partners. Now you will have to either get into some two people group or do the assignment alone this whole year. And if you are planning to do it alone, you shouldn't expect me to give you a nice score as it's supposed to be group work.”

 What? What kind of assignment is that? It takes a whole year to finish it? I look at Mr. Jacob confused but he doesn't say anything more. Well, so again I'm going to lose marks on assignments. And why the hell is he giving assignments on the first class itself?

 “Oh sir..why didn't you wake me up?” I ask suppressing my annoyance.

 “I am not your mommy to wake you up,” Mr. Jacob retorts.

 “Sorry, what's the assignment about?” I ask.

 “Go ask someone. I don't have extra time for you,” Mr. Jacob scoffs.

 “Okay,” I nod and quickly walk out of the class. I think Mr. Jacob is finally done with me. He is actually a patient man and doesn't usually mind people sleeping in his class. But today he clearly got angry with me.

I walk towards the canteen to have lunch with the four and once I see them sitting at our usual table, I heave a sigh. “Hey!” Amelia chirps with a wide smile as I reach near them and take my seat. “Where were you during the break?” she asks.

 “I had some work,” I lie. Actually, I was simply sitting in the class not wanting to meet with them.

 “What about that stutter gay? When did he finally come out of the bathroom?” Kevin asks.

 I feel extremely angry. “He came out soon after you guys left,” I say controlling myself. “And he isn't gay.”

 “He isn't? Are you sure? Then why was he staring at you?” Amelia asks.

 “He had a close friend called Alex who looked like me. He died. That was why he was staring at me,” I explain. I am sure that's a true story. The first word he uttered on seeing me yesterday was Alex. So he might actually had a friend who looked like me. Or else why would someone stare at their bully?

 “oh! Really? It's the story he told you right?” Sophia asked. “Who knows whether it's true?”

 “He showed me Alex's pic. He does look like me,” I lie. I want to somehow convince them and get Nate out of their eyes.

 “So you didn't do anything to him? Did you really go easy on him after he pushed me?” Tony asks. “How dare he push me?”

 “Yeah..I slapped him when he came out. I was about to punch him but then he started pleading. He said he is really sorry for pushing you,” I say trying to sound honest.

 “Are you now talking for that stutter boy?” Tony asks furrowing his eyebrows.

 “No. I'm not. But he pleaded with me to leave him alone,” I say and take the water bottle sitting on the table in front of me. It probably belongs to Sophia. I take a sip and then look back at Tony. “Leave him alone. He already has the stutter problem. I think we shouldn't trouble him more.”

 “Woah Ethan! I can't believe this,” Tony scoffs. “What? Have you gone gay for him?”

 I fist my hand under the table. But I control myself and open my mouth. “It's not like that. I am not gay and he is also not gay. Look, why do we have to simply torture a person like him? And he already moved out of my room.”

 “Torture?” Amelia scrunches her eyebrows together. “We just asked him why he stared at you. Okay, maybe had a little fun with him? Why do you have to call it torture?”

 The bitch. Torture or what else is it? She was clearly torturing the poor boy yesterday. But I don't open my mouth.

 “And a person like him? You mean a loser like him?” Sophia asks.

 “Yeah. Maybe,” I reply.

 “That loser doesn't deserve to study here,” Kevin says. “He must rather sit at home.”

 “Yeah, you see Kevin, he is gonna quit within a week,” Tony chuckles.

 Oh what the hell is wrong with them? What are they going to do to him? Will I have to stand and laugh with them when they bully him? How do I help Nate?

 “Oh..woah! he is here,” Sophia pulls me out of my little trance. I follow her gaze to see Nate standing at the counter. Honestly, this is the last thing I wanted right now. I don't have any idea what is going to happen next.

 Soon Nate gets his food and turns around, walking in direction of an empty desk.

 “Hey!” Tony shouts at Nate clapping his hands. Almost all the people in the canteen look in our direction but Nate keeps on walking towards the desk, keeping his gaze on the floor.

 “C'mon guys,” Amelia says standing up from the chair. She walks towards Nate and then Sophia, Tony and Kevin jump up to follow her. There is no way I can sit back when they all follow her, so naturally, I also follow.