We're Both Boys (Chapter 19) Thorne's POV!!!

Instructions

Chapter 19 (Thorne's POV) Hi! It's me! Ace is... Well he's going to be okay. But I'm here for now. *** It's been a few days since the whole thing with Kenny. Yesterday we tried going to the principal to report him. To no one's surprise, it was...unhelpful. So we went to Mr. Shel, who did everything in his power to bring that jerk to justice. Kenny is now banned from the dance, but the punishment pretty much ends there. I'm not entirely sure what issues this school has with effectively dealing with bullying, but I will be sure to write a very strongly worded letter. (With better grammar than Ace's confession letter.) Heh heh. We still have to tease him about that a little. He doesn't mind. Actually told us it helps him feel a little more 'normal' when it comes to all his mental junk. Ivy of course pointed out that Ace is as far from normal as one can get. So we're okay. Of course none of this changes the fact that Ace and Arch are getting homophobic comments. Sometimes me and Ivy by association, but really, mainly Ace. And all of this is far less than ideal, but you know it's fine. We're all fine. "Hey Thorne." You know who's fine? Isaac's fine. (Ooooh, that was some good wordplay huh?) "Heyyy Isaac." I say, trying to push my brain into confident mode. "Where you headed?" "Math, same as you." "Oh. Oh yeah. Cuz we're in the same class. And we have been. In the same class. All year." I say, tripping over my words like a total failure. "Glad you're finally catching on." Isaac says with a smirk, nudging her way past me. It doesn't seem like it's possible for someone to look as pretty as he does right now. "Yeah, well. Y'know, I'm just...cool." I say, scratching the back of my neck. I'm like 87% sure Isaac is aroace, and I have to get over them, but like... "Yeah Thorne, you're pretty cool." Isaac says, then once again begins to speed up and head to math. "Uh wait!" I say. "Yeah?" "We're still going to the dance, right?" I ask them. "As...friends?" "Sure." Isaac says, face twisted into a halfway grin. "Friends." "Yeah friends." I say. "Cuz obviously you're aroace-" "Who said I was aroace?" Isaac interupts. "Uh." My brain short-circuits for a minute. "People. Ivy." "It's a common mistake. I'm demiromantic and asexual." Isaac says. "Wait- so you...you...you would date someone. Like if they asked you out?" "If I liked them, and if we were friends. Yeah." Isaac says. Completely nonchalant. "We're friends!!" I say, a bit too excited. "Yeah we are. Why, you wanna ask me out?" Isaac asks, a stupid crooked little half-smirk on his face. "Ha! In your dreams!" I snort. Nonchalant. Deflecting. I'm so good at flirting. "Like I'd dream about you." Isaac says with a laugh. "I thought you said I was cool." I respond immediately, before the sting of what she said gets to me. "I- I, um, I guess I did say that, huh." Isaac stutters, tripped up for possibly the first time. The bell rings. I walk ahead of Isaac, leaving him in the hallway to revel in my awesomeness. *** By the time Isaac enters class it seems like he's made a complete recovery from our interaction. Not that there was much for them to recover from. Me on the other hand.....a little unsteady. Actually, I feel like I'm about to throw up. Something about the way she smirked, like my feelings for them are all a big joke, just makes me a little sick to my stomach. "Earth to Thorne?" If he smirks at me like that one more time-- *** My day ends after math class, which was definitely spent on math and totally not trying to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest every time Isaac leaned over to show me something. Whaaaaat? That's crazy. Obviously I finished all my work. That's exactly why I'm headed to my room to go catch up on everything I didn't learn today because I was a little preoccupied. Before heading back to class I duck into the boys bathroom. The lack of gender-neutral restrooms at this school irritates me. There is a wheelchair accessible bathroom, which I used for awhile, until I saw someone who actually needed the wheelchair accessible feature waiting for me to finish. After that I was too ashamed to keep using it, so now I just bounce between boys and girls bathrooms, because gender is a concept and I can pull off both. As I'm washing my hands I hear the sound of muffled tears. Great. Everyone seems to be having a mental breakdown lately. I glance at their shoes to make sure it's not one of my friends. Beat-up red converse. Not Ace or Arch. Since I don't enjoy having emotional conversations in bathrooms, I exit quickly. However, while I'm walking away I hear the creak of someone leaving the boys bathroom, so I turn around to see who was in there. Turns out I know him after all. For a moment I'm able to glimpse a sad boy with fluffy brown hair and round glasses underneath layers and layers of false confidence. And I know that I'll never forget the desperate sound of this boy's tears. I'll never forget the sound of Kenny crying.