chapter 4

All day we awkwardly interacted with one another and Howie and Lenny noticed. They asked me about it and I told them it was about math stuff. I couldn't believe I lied to them like that, because I wanted to be a more honest person and lying like that wasn't going to help.

We agreed to meet up after Phys Ed in Club Room #6. I was waiting in front of the room but he hadn't shown up yet. I decided to go to his locker but he wasn't there. I checked the lunch room and the gym. I remembered that maybe I should have checked the last place I saw him...the locker room.

"You like this sort of thing, don't you? You goddam fag." That was Howie. "Come on, we could just make you do it." I heard crying and once again I hated to say it was Piki.

"I'm not doing that. I don't want to. Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I like sucking anybody's dick." They were going to make him give a blow job? That was ***ing past bullying, that...that was like rape.

"Oh just do it!" Lenny. I heard Piki hit the ground and I made my presence known. "Conner!" He held tightly onto Piki's hair and had been pushing his head towards Howard's crotch.

"What do you guys think you're doing?" I asked. He released his hair and he stood up and ran over to me. He hugged me. I felt really excited. This was totally different than a grandma hug. "Huh?"

"Jeez Conner, we were just having a little fun with Princess, okay? It's not like she minds." He was still holding onto me. "Why the *** is he holding on to you like that?" asked Howard.

"Because he wants to!" I replied. "And I like it." I said it. I admitted it to somebody other than Piki. I was gay. Nobody said anything and the locker room fell silent.

Howie left the room and Lenny followed, not a word from either of them. Piki had let me go and we stood alone in the locker room. "Thank you," he said.

"Are you still up for the movie?" I asked. He smiled.

"Of course." We were in my truck five minutes later and on our way to the movie theater.

That date started three incredibly happy months that I was glad to have gotten.

My mom cried when I told her I was gay. My dad didn't say anything. Kevin didn't say much either.

Len and Howard stopped picking on Piki and six other kids in school joined the alliance. They were all in grades below ours so it was a good thing some people could continue things once we were gone.

Jo and Sun were nicer to me too. Jo didn't try to make me feel like crap on a daily basis any more. When my parents met Pi, who told me I should start calling him that again because he thought it was much cuter, they were glad he was so smart and knew what direction he wanted to go in life.

Once we graduated I finally met his parents. They were both short, gorgeous people who seemed stern and incredibly serious. They invited me over for dinner. I agreed to go and was pretty excited.

It was the day of Adani dinner and I went over to their house. I had never been over to his place before. It was large and had lots of Indian paintings and statues all throughout the house. I was so nervous. "I would run now if I were you," Pi said to me as we entered the dining room.

At the table sat Mr. and Mrs. Adani and a tiny woman. She couldn't have been over 5'1" and 100 pounds. She wore a scarf over her hair and a serious look on her face. I didn't know why I felt so...terrified. "Our son has told us many things about you. But has he told you about his soon to be bride, Pingala?" asked Mr. Adani.

"Uh...no." I looked at Piki who looked at Pingala.

"She has been engaged to Piki for over twelve years. We value the happiness of our son over all else on this earth, but she refuses to return to India unwed," began Mrs. Adani. "She wished to met the person who held Piki's heart so firmly, and to be honest I hadn't expected you to look the way you do." How had he not told me he had a fiancée? A fiancée he has had for over twelve years?

"If you wish to continue to date, you must convince her that the engagement is off," said Mr. Adani.

"He is a large hathi! How can he love him and not me?" she exclaimed before angrily leaving the room.