All Chapters of Becoming Blue : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

1I knew something was wrong the moment I saw Blue’s face.Not the usual walls-up expression he wore around strangers, not the thin, unreadable calm he put on when teachers talked to him like he was already in trouble.This was different.This was hollow.---2I found him in the art room before first period, sitting on the edge of a table with his hoodie still up, staring at the floor.“What happened?”His voice was so quiet I almost didn’t hear him: “They burned it.”“Burned what?”He didn’t answer right away. He reached into his bag and pulled out a blackened scrap of canvas — the corner of a painting. Just enough left to see a slash of blue, half a brushstroke of gold.I recognized it instantly.It was one of his pieces for the district art show. The one he’d been working on for months.The one he hadn’t let anyone see finished, not even me, until last week.---3“They broke into the supply closet last night,” Blue said. “Took all my paintings. Poured paint thinner on them. Set f

The sun had already begun to sink behind the horizon, painting the sky in bruised shades of purple and gold, when Liam finally pulled his car to a stop outside Adrian’s apartment. The drive had been silent—thick, suffocating silence. Adrian had sat pressed against the window, his profile rigid, jaw clenched tight, eyes fixed on the blur of passing streetlights. Liam, with both hands locked tightly on the steering wheel, had stolen glances at him, wondering how something so small—a fight, a few cutting words—could feel like an earthquake shaking the foundation of everything they had built.Adrian didn’t move immediately when the car stopped. Instead, he reached for the handle, then paused, his hand trembling ever so slightly.“Adrian—” Liam started, his voice low, almost tentative.But Adrian didn’t turn. “Don’t.” His voice was quiet, but it carried that sharp edge that cut deeper than shouting ever could.Liam swallowed hard, staring at the way Adrian’s shoulders stiffened. The memory

The morning after the gallery’s winter showcase dawned gray and heavy, as if the city itself had decided to drape a veil of silence across its skyline. Snow had fallen again overnight, layering the streets with a deceptive calm, disguising the chaos beneath. Liam stood by his apartment window, watching the city wake up beneath flurries of white, the soft light brushing against his face as though it wanted to comfort him. But there was no real comfort to be found—not when the silence in his chest screamed louder than any storm.He hadn’t slept. Not properly. His mind had replayed the night’s events in slow, torturous loops: the way Adrian had looked at him when Liam finally revealed part of the truth about his family. Not the whole truth—never the whole truth—but enough to shatter the façade he had been hiding behind for months. Adrian hadn’t said anything cruel, hadn’t pulled away physically, but Liam had seen it in his eyes: the weight of disappointment, or maybe confusion. It was th

Eli’s fingers trembled as he set down his pen. The page before him was filled with half-formed sentences, words crossed out so heavily the paper had nearly torn. He’d been trying to write a letter—to Julian, to himself, maybe even to the universe—but the thoughts refused to line up neatly. They spilled out messy, raw, jagged.The storm from the night before had left the town damp and restless. Outside, droplets clung to the window like tiny shards of glass. Eli pressed his forehead to the cool pane and watched the street below. Children in rain boots splashed in shallow puddles, their laughter cutting through the lingering hush of the morning. Somewhere, a dog barked, and the sound of it tugged Eli back to earth.His chest felt heavy. The secret Julian had revealed—his family’s relentless control, the suffocating demands, the promise of a life Julian had never wanted—sat like a stone in Eli’s gut. For the first time since their kiss beneath the fading summer lights, Eli wondered wheth

The rain hadn’t stopped since dawn, coating the streets of San Marlow in a slick, shimmering glaze. Eli sat at the edge of his bed, staring at the phone in his hand. Notifications buzzed and vibrated endlessly, a never-ending flood of texts, mentions, and headlines. His name. Julian’s name. Both of them splashed across the internet in ways they had never imagined possible.Julian’s confession at the benefit gala had gone viral. It wasn’t just a whisper in their little town anymore—it was global. Videos of him standing under the spotlight, voice trembling yet resolute as he declared love for Eli, had been reposted thousands of times. Every angle, every pause, every heartbeat had been dissected by strangers who didn’t know either of them.Eli swiped through the chaos—tweets calling their love “brave,” others laced with cruelty, judgment, or disbelief. Headlines that celebrated them. Headlines that mocked them. Think pieces about sexuality, politics, and religion attached to their names