Out of the Closet
by Victor Thomas
Chapter 1
August 2024
Kenny
A thousand voices over lapped each other and echoed throughout the hallway. Lockers slammed, girls squealed, and jocks on the football team shouted to each other. It was a typical Monday at Chouteau High School, and it wasn't even eight a.m. yet.
Honestly. Who cares what you did over the weekend, I thought, trying to ignore the jocks behind my back. I leaned against my locker, the same one I used last year, and looked at the door. A group of freshmen came in, chatting cheerfully to each other. Three years ago, I had been one of those over excited freshmen, feeling like I could conquer the world just because I had finally made it out of middle school.
I hadn't conquered the world, not yet at least, but just before the summer break I had conquered the heart of Hannah Barnes. Out of all the people, who would have expected me to have a girlfriend?
I looked in the direction of her locker but couldn't see her there. Is she seriously going to be late on the first day, I thought, and checked the time again on my phone. There was still fifteen minutes before classes started, and an uncountable number of minutes before the school year was over.
Like always, the summer had gone too fast. I had spent a big part of it hanging around with Hannah, which was new and exciting. How unlikely it seemed that someone like me, who did my best to avoid any sports, had befriended a girl like her at the local park where I was hanging out with my friends. Or where my friends were playing basketball and I sat on the grass reading a book.
The schedule said my day would start with math. It was one of my favorites, and I would have been on my way to the classroom, but I wanted to meet my girlfriend first. Still fourteen minutes, I thought after checking the time again.
A few moments later, I was pacing in front of my locker, wondering whether I should head to class already. Hannah wasn't a morning person, and when it came to me always having to wait for her, she probably wasn't an afternoon or evening person either. Nine minutes.
After an agonizing minute or two, I decided to start walking toward my classroom. I would meet her at lunch. As happy as seeing her would make me this morning, Mr. Douglas wouldn't appreciate my being late.
Only two steps out into the hallway, I heard someone running. By the time I saw him coming, it was too late. The runner bolted around the corner and slammed right into me, knocking us both to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs.
Stunned, I scrambled away and jumped to my feet.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
I offered a hand to help the other guy up.
"Yeah, thanks, man," the black-haired Latino boy said, taking a firm hold of my hand. He looked down at the mess of books and binders that had spilled out of his backpack and let out a deep breath. "Shit!"
The boy knelt down and began grabbing the papers that had flown out of a binder. I handed him the books that had slid into the middle of the hallway. He shoved them into his backpack and scanned the floor with his deep brown eyes to check that nothing was left. He found a couple of pens and shoved them into his pocket.
"You know you can put some of your stuff in your locker," I said.
"No shit, Sherlock," he said, giving me a weird look.
He blew a strand of dark hair out of his face and rose to his feet. The smirk on his face softened while he studied me.
We were standing close to each other in the hallway, and I tried to rip my eyes away. The kid was obviously an athlete, with lean muscles visible beneath his shirt. I forced his gaze down on the floor like he was searching for yet another dropped pen.
My cheeks felt hot, and I was blushing.
"Uh, I just mean that…"
"Gotta go. I'll search for my locker after class."
He turned around and began walking toward his class.
Happy to help, and it was nice to meet you too, I thought, but I couldn't help staring at him, before he disappeared around the corner. For some reason, my mouth had formed a slight smile. There was something in the boy I couldn't explain. Plus, he had a nice butt!
"Babe!"
I turned to see Hannah approaching me.
"Hey," I said, opening my arms to my girlfriend.
"First day of school and still smiling. What happened?" she asked.
"I'm just… happy to see you," I said quietly, mostly to myself, and hugged her back out of reflex.
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