"Well, I'm in love with you," Neïle blurted out.
Nicolas froze, his smile still half-stuck on his face.
"Huh?"
The guy next to him stopped chewing his gum, his eyes wide, before bursting out laughing and slapping Nicolas on the shoulder.
"Wait, are you serious right now, Neïle?" the guy mocked, openly making fun of him.
Neïle didn't flinch. He stood his ground, completely blunt.
"Yeah."
Inside Nicolas's head, everything seemed to shatter. How... is this even possible? I don't get it.
The guy didn't stop there. He turned to the other students who were starting to gather, a vicious smirk on his lips.
"But that's disgusting, man! How can you like guys? Like, seriously, every time you see us, you're getting hard or what?!"
"Not at all, you're talking total nonsense," Neïle shot back, frowning, trying to keep his head high. "That's like me saying you get hard over every girl you see."
The guy shrugged, gesturing to the entire hallway as his witness.
"Yeah, but you're gay, so you're different. Right, guys?"
Around them, the guys nodded, snickering. Murmurs spread instantly. They all agree. They're right, it's gross.
Panic suddenly flared up in Nicolas's throat. He felt the weight of their stares heavy on him; he had to clear his name, right now. He spoke up, his voice a little too loud to drown out his racing heartbeat.
"For real, you've got a serious problem," Nicolas snapped, staring Neïle down. "Is that why you always push for us to sleep in the same bed?"
Neïle took a step back, his face completely pale from the shock of the betrayal.
"Huh? What are you talking about? I never did that!"
He's right, Nicolas thought, feeling his hands grow sweaty. What the hell am I doing?
But the machine was already in motion. The crowd was getting hyped up, their voices turning cruder, and sharper.
"Damn, you're actually twisted!" one of the guys shouted.
Nicolas stared at the floor, his ears ringing. Crap, what do I do now? Maybe I should say I was joking...
"Oh yeah, Neïle, so you're into that stuff," the first guy chimed in, laughing loudly. "Man, that's messed up. You can tell he was already thinking about jerking off to you while you sleep!"
"You can tell every time he's on the phone with him, he's jerking off in front of his screen!"
They were all laughing. The noise was deafening. Nicolas caught Neïle's gaze and saw his eyes welling up with tears. To mask his own shame, Nicolas yelled even louder, his face hardened by cowardice:
"Get the fuck out of my sight, you seriously disgust me!"
Shit. Neïle turned on his heel and ran through the crowded hallway. He's running away, what do I do? And he's crying...
The guys closed in around Nicolas, slapping him hard on the back to comfort him.
"Man, good thing we talked about it here."
"Seriously, next time, he probably would've jumped you, Nico."
Nicolas swallowed hard, forcing a confident look. He's not wrong. It's just him, he's crazy.
"Yeah, totally," Nicolas replied.
Then, to dig his own grave completely and ensure no one would ever doubt him, he added one final layer, his voice firm:
"Anyway, I knew he had an issue from the start. He's always clinging to me and looking at me weird, I found him so creepy. Honestly, thanks guys for helping me out. Plus, I'm not gonna lie... he actually touched my dick once and told me it was just to know my size. I thought he was joking, but now that I think about it, he was dead serious."
"No way?! Why didn't you ever tell us?"
"That's messed up, you know, you can actually press charges for that," one of the guys said, his expression turning serious.
Nicolas felt a drop of sweat run down his neck. He had to downplay it without getting caught.
"Don't worry, it didn't really bother me at the time."
A brow furrowed in the group. The first guy stared him down, suspicious.
"Wait, are you gay too or what?"
Nicolas's heart skipped a beat. Pure panic.
"Are you insane? Never in my life!"
The guy let out a short laugh, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Chill, I'm just joking, don't worry."
The bell for the very first class of this freshman year finally rang out, shrill, cutting the questions short and slamming the trap shut on Neïle for the rest of the year.
Yet, as he walked toward the classroom, Nicolas's brain was spinning at a thousand miles an hour. Everything had happened so fast. Barely ten minutes earlier, the group was still gathered outside the school gates, chill, talking about summer break.
Everything had spiraled when they spotted that teenage couple, clearly their age, walking hand in hand on the opposite sidewalk. Immediately, the guys had started pointing fingers, throwing random insults and slurs to act tough.
Nicolas, for his part, had stayed quiet for a moment, watching the couple. He didn't feel any hatred, just total confusion. Driven by genuine curiosity, he had turned to his friends and blurted out:
"Yeah, I don't get how you can love someone of the same sex."
He was sincerely wondering how it worked in their heads, without any bad intentions. But Neïle, who was right next to him, had caught his words. He thought he saw a signal, an opening for discussion, or maybe the perfect moment to clear the air. He had stepped forward, locked his eyes onto Nicolas's, and dropped his bomb.