All Chapters of Lick It Better!: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

“Call me!”Mum emphasises as she plants a big kiss on my cheek, the kind that ruins caked foundation.“Mum, I told you, you can't kiss him like that, not unless you want to look like you’re from doing coke.”Bailey, my sister, comments casually without looking up from her phone and on cue, a long sigh leaves Mum’s lips as soon as she catches a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror through the open door.“Why do I look like this? I have to see Mr Mendoza today.”“I thought he was just a friend?”I ask as I move away from her. When she gets shy, she gets…physical.“I like to dress up for my friends.”“Wow, spoken like a liar.”The catty words leave my lips before I can stop them, and as soon as they are out, pain spreads across my back as she slaps the flesh repeatedly, causing me to wince.“Ah! I'm sorry! God!”But no matter how hard I shout in apology, the slaps keep coming. My only option is… nostalgia“But seriously, Mum, will you be okay with me joining the dorms this year?”At

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

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

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

The hand grabbing my arm is by no means gentle.“I can stand on my own.”I snap, trying to twist free, but of course, Beaumont’s hold doesn’t budge; he doesn’t even look at me, just drags me from the soft sand until finally the ground transitions to the pavement, and that, eventually, turns to the tarmac.A black Bentley waits, engine humming low, and a man in a suit and pristine white gloves stands holding the door open like this is some goddamn mob movie.Hah! Must be nice.“Get in.”Beaumont says as he half tosses my body in the direction of the open car.“Are you bragging?”Is he trying to show me how easily he can replace his car?“Get in before I really lose my patience, Noel.”His words are spoken through gritted teeth, reminding me of which end of this stick I am standing on.After a sigh that’s louder than necessary, I slide into the back seat.I wonder if he will be lenient with me if I cooperate.*For a while, the car drives in heavy silence. No music. No small talk. Just t