Chapter 8

       Nolan and I had been spending every day together for basically the whole day, but now their spring break was over so they had to go back to school. Not only that, but I now had less than a week to figure out how to get back to my regular life, or else I was going to have to be separated from Nolan again.

       I couldn't handle being apart from him anymore. For the past month and a half, I hadn't been living with him, sleeping next to him, waking up next to him, and....doing other things.

       Insert Lenny face here.

       I didn't even know what I was supposed to do to get back to my regular life. Everything was slowly falling back into place. Ryder and Mae were back together, Nolan and I were dating, Orchid was no longer with Felix and would probably start crushing on Atticus soon.

       Maybe all that was left was getting Alan to stop being a homophobe.

       That seemed impossible to do, though. He was very stubborn, and wouldn't even listen to his grandparents when they tried talking to him about it.

       I was going to pick Nolan up from school today so we could go somewhere to hang out. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I saw quite a few students gathered around something or someone. Once I parked the car and got out, I saw who everyone was looking at.

       Nolan and Alan.

       And Nolan did not look good at all. He had a cut on his bottom lip, a small bruise was forming under his eye, and it looked like his ear was bleeding too.

       The brothers were currently arguing about something, but I had no idea what. If it was Alan who did that to Nolan, he better hide because my shovel was in my car and I was not afraid to use it.

       I had to hurry over there and push my way through the crowd, and I got there just in time because Nolan was about to launch himself at Alan, so I quickly had to wrap my arms around him to hold him back. Whatever they were arguing about must have been bad because Nolan would never, under any circumstance, fight someone, especially his own brother.

       "Look, everyone!" Alan announced loudly, addressing the people watching. "It's the guy Nolan dumped Janelle for! Oh, and did I mention that he's three years older and lives in Quebec?! That's right, my fourteen year old brother is dating someone who is seventeen and lives in a whole other country! So, congratulations, Nolan, on completely ruining your life!"

       "I'm ruining my life?" Nolan asked, trying to get out of my grasp but I wouldn't let him. "You were just standing there watching me as your so-called friends beat me up!"

       "They are my friends, not my 'so-called' friends," Alan said. "And you really think I could have stopped them? It would have been three against one."

       "Yet, Elizabeth had no problem risking suspension and taking on all three guys," Nolan said. "She got suspended, but she doesn't care because family comes first."

       "Well, none of that wouldn't have happened if you didn't choose to date him," Alan said.

       "I'm not choosing to be gay!" Nolan said. "Why would I choose to be someone that caused me to get beat up? Why would I choose to be someone that my own brother hates? You really think I'm choosing this?"

       "Yes, I do," Alan said. 

       If Ryder was here, things would be going a lot worse for Alan's friends, and even Alan. But today, he just happened to be sick so he had to stay home.

       Orchid, however, decided to get involved as she made her way through the crowd and stood between Nolan and Alan. "Alan, what has gotten into you?" Orchid asked.

       "What has gotten into me?" Alan asked. "What has gotten into Nolan is the real question. Why are you defending him?"

       "Because he's my brother," Orchid said. "I see how happy he is with Jerome, and that's all that matters. I don't care if he's gay, and you shouldn't care either. Oh, wait, but I forgot. You're too scared to stand up for yourself and instead chooses to be brainwashed into saying and thinking whatever your friends say."

       "That's not true," Alan said.

       "It's not?" Orchid asked. "Because you weren't a homophobe before you started hanging out with Felix. You didn't care about seeing gay couples on TV or in real life. But now, whenever you see one, you choose to bash them, even your own brother."

       I didn't even noticed Felix standing close to Alan but once I did, I almost laughed. He looked worse than Nolan did. Elizabeth can seriously do some damage.

       "So you're saying it's my fault?" Felix asked. "That Alan is thinking like a normal human being?"

       "What's normal about bashing your own brother and watching him get beat up?" Orchid asked. "And Alan, don't you dare say there was nothing you could do, because you and I both know that you could have went to a teacher, but you didn't, because you're too scared to stand up to this douche bag."

       Never call Felix a word. Ever.

       He looked pissed.

       "Excuse me?" Felix asked. "Do you want to say that again?"

       "Sure," Orchid said. "You. Are. A. Douche. Bag."

       The people around watching ended up rising Felix's anger by going, "Ooh!" Someone even said, "Slay him!"

       Felix looked even more angry than I had ever seen him as he took a step closer to Orchid. "Say that. One. More. Ti--"

       He was cut off when the one person I was hoping would show up stepping in front of Orchid.

       Yes, Atticus, save your future wife.

       "Yeah, hi, I'm going to need you to back off," Atticus said. "I wouldn't want to make your face look even worse than it is now. If that's even possible."

       "Keep making me angry, I dare you," Felix said.

       "Yeah, okay," Atticus said. "You really wanna throw the first punch? Come on, be my guest. Because you'd be a complete idiot to get into a fight with yet another person who knows how to fight."

       Felix snorted. "Who knows how to fight? Elizabeth got lucky."

       "Lucky?" Atticus asked. "So, her being a boxer is lucky? Her not being able to get a single hit to her is lucky? Nah, it does shows how pathetic you and your friends are."

       "I'm warning you, you better stop," Felix said. 

       "Or what?" Atticus said. "Seriously, throw the first punch. You do want to see what it's like fighting a black belt, right?"

       What I wanted to know was WHERE ARE THE TEACHERS? Seriously, there was a big group of students outside. Didn't that seem the least bit suspicious?

       Thankfully, a smart person decided to actually get one of the teachers. Then again, it was the Princes' cousin that decided to get her dad, aka Tony, aka the uncle I loved bugging.

       "What is going on here?" Tony asked, which made a lot of the students watching back away.

       "Atticus just attacked me!" Felix lied. "Look what he did to my face!"

       "Uh huh," Tony said before looking at his daughter. "Julia?"

       "Elizabeth did that, not Atticus, and she already got punished for it," Julia said. "The argument started between Alan and Nolan since Alan was just watching when Nolan was getting beat up, then Orchid came in to defend Nolan, then Felix got mad, then Atticus joined in to defend Orchid."

       "And did the people beating Nolan up already get punished?" Tony asked and Julia nodded. "Alright, everyone leave, except for the Princes." 

       Everyone walked away, muttering about what had just happened.

       "I swear, you better not be giving me a detention," Alan said. 

       "I'm not," Tony said. "Because right now, I'm going to talk to you as your uncle, not your teacher. You know what's more important than your friends? Your family. They are always going to be there for you, but your friends might not always be there for you. In fact, I wouldn't surprised if you and your current friends stopped talking within a few weeks."

       "Thanks for the confidence," Alan said sarcastically.

       "You really think your friendship is going to last with them?" Tony asked. "I've taught Felix last semester. He only cares about himself, trust me. But your family? They care about you. You can't just throw them away just because you're worried about what some people you barely know might think. He's your brother, Alan. You can't treat him like this just because you disagree with him being gay."

       Alan didn't say anything as he looked at the ground.

       "You want to continue being friends with those guys? Fine," Tony said. "But just ask yourself who will be there for you when you fall? Because I'm certain they won't be the answer. Now since I'm taking you two home, you can come stay with me in my classroom while I finish packing up."

       After they all walked away was when Nolan started crying. I really hated seeing him cry, and it was a lot worse now that his brother was the cause of it.

       I pulled him into a tight hug, and he hugged me back as he dug his face in my chest. "I'm so sorry," I said softly.

       But on the inside? I was cursing at the universe.

       I really needed to get back to my life before things got worse.

________________

ELIZABETH YAS QUEEN SLAYYYYYY. Even though she didn't say anything BUT SHE TOOK ON THREE GUYS AND WON SLAY QUEEN. 

So here's a gif of Elizabeth for slaying: (all im seeing is ginny tbh since it's the same actress)(i can't change either of them lol oops. cx)(its okay theyre in a different timeline. we'll just saw elizabeth looks a lot like ginny since elizabeth's mom is ginny's cousin)

And now I sleep (jk ive got to go on youtube lol)