Chapter 21

I need to dedicate this chapter to anyone who supports gay people or who needs hope for the future if they don't believe in anything right now, since I was like that at one point too, but then realized that I have just too much more to live for now. I also need to dedicate this chapter to a special person, Kayla. She has allowed me to feel so free and comfortable with myself, something that I wouldn't ever say about myself otherwise. Kayla has saved me from my darkest times as well; she is my best friend and she encouraged me to write to my heart's content.

Thank you Kayla. Love you girl! :)

This was the hardest chapter to write, yet it was the easiest. I simply loved writing Kent's arguements and found that I agreed with all of them. This chapter has, hopefully, very deep ideas about the truths of homosexuality and love in general, and I hope that you might agree with some of these points.

Enjoy.

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Chapter 21: Cole's POV, Thursday, lunchtime, at school

I stormed over to Caitlin and the guy that dumped milk onto Kent.

Kent sat there in his seat and kept his face emotionless as milk ran down into his eyes and down his shirt. Kent never moved or said anything when Caitlin's friend did this; he sat there as the entire cafeteria turned to look at him and see if he'd react to their antics.

“Aw, I knew you'd do this with me, Roger,” Caitlin laughed as she let Roger, a tall fellow, pull her into a warm hug.

“Sure thing, babe, anything for you,” Roger smiled his blue eyes and brushed his long black hair to the side and kissed Caitlin on her lips.

I was only a foot or two away from the table when I called out, “Hey, Roger! Why the hell did you do that? What's wrong with you?” I was now taking a napkin and dabbing across Kent's face, sopping up the milk on his face as he sat motionless in his seat as if he was a stone statue.

“Oh, is the big faggot defending his little boyfriend faggot?” Caitlin taunted. “Oh look, Roger, the big fairy is cleaning the little fairy's wings.”

“Shut the fuck up, Caitlin!” I yelled to the point where all other conversation in the cafeteria came to a halt and all eyes were trained on Caitlin, Roger, Kent, and myself. “I don't even get why you're making fun of gays since everyone knows that you've had your own fun with girls before at all of your parties, and then posted them online for everyone's viewing pleasure online, you worthless slut!”

Kent actually looked up for once and frowned a bit at me and said softly, “Don't sink to their level, Cole. You're a lot better than these two worthless slobs. Let's just leave now and you can help me clean up this milk.”

“No, hold on just a bit, I need to do something first; something that I should have done a while ago,” I got up and stood on the table and looked at the piece of folded paper that I had written in chemistry class one more time before stuffing it into my pocket. “Hey, so, I think that I need to make something clear about what's going on over here since all of you people seem so interested in us talking. And also, I feel the need to tell you guys something.”

Kent wiped a drop of milk that was falling down his face as he pursed his lips.

“So, according to Caitlin's text last night, she told everyone in this school, and probably every school in the county, that I'm dating Kent Whitman, the guy right here that's covered in milk. Well those rumors are true. He's also the smartest guy in this entire school; he's also the most caring, sweet, amazing, and the best all-around guy that anyone could ever know, and I'm proud to call him my boyfriend.” I heard an inhale of air as a gasp from a majority of the students in the cafeteria.

“This morning, Caitlin Castle, this little slut right here,” I gestured to Caitlin as she scrunched her face at me. “Well, she criticized me for dating Kent because he's a guy. She was also one of my ex-girlfriends and she started to flirt with me in front of Kent. She also kissed me in front of him with hopes that she could change me back to being straight again. First of all, a person can't go back to being straight, and even if I could, I think that I need someone better than Caitlin to do that. Not only that, it's just that there's nothing wrong with being gay or bisexual. Love is still love, regardless of what form it may be in; just because it isn't a man and a woman doesn't mean that it can't be love.”

“But really, two guys, nor two girls, can't create anything, so they're pointless and a waste to society and resources.” Caitlin retorted looking at me with a confident smirk plastered to her face.

“Actually there are some major celebrities who are gay and proud about it like Ellen, Rosie, Elton, and let's not forget one of the biggest players in pop right now, Lady Gaga. So yes, gays can, and have, positively contributed to society.” I said as I crossed my arms.

“Hey just shut up you pussy, no one wants to hear you ramble on and on, so step your queer ass down already!” Some guy shouted from a faraway distance in the back as the people around him snickered and gave him high-fives.

“No,” I said. “You shut up, you judgmental freak. I don't even get why you even think that homosexuality is a bad thing! I'm the exact same Cole that I was before I came up and told all of you guys that I was gay! Being gay doesn't mean that I'm not a teenage guy who still likes sports, pizza, and hanging out with my friends.”

“If you don't mind, Cole, I'd like to say something about this too,” Kent looked up at me with his beautiful light green eyes as I took his hand and helped him up onto the table next to me. “Now, since you heard Cole's side of the story, I think that it's only fair that you get to hear mine as well.”

As I listened to him for those short two sentences, they sounded like masterpieces of speech spoken to me; Kent spoke those lines with such an eloquence and grace that couldn't be compared to any great speech in history. He also had this air about him that hinted at a new, quiet, subdued confidence that he had now that he had not had earlier.

“I am completely agreeing with what Cole said, and Caitlin is indeed right in saying that I am gay. But, I will have to just say that I do truly love Cole. I know that you probably won't believe me when I say that I love him or that he loves me since we are so different; when I am calm and quiet, Cole can be hot-headed and bubbly; while Cole is an all-around athlete, I am but a mere swimmer; Cole is famous for his good-looks and athleticism, yet I am only known for my brain and swimming ability. My main point is that yes we are radically different and we may come from extremely different cliques, but we still love each other just as much as anyone can love another in high school.

“Yes, I know that some of you here may not like the idea of two guys or two girls together at all, yet I ask you the question: what is wrong with it, truly? I agree with Cole and how he said that love is love, regardless of what form it may come. Yet I also am willing to say that due to the fact that it is less common that a heterosexual relationship, it is thought of as wrong and bad.”

Kent then stepped down from the table and started to walk up and down the aisles of the cafeteria as we all watched him, mesmerized by his speech.

“We all live in the twenty-first century, and isn't this period about change for he better and standing up for yourself and what you beliefs are?” Kent was using his hands to emphasize his points. He must have learned a lot from his father about public speaking and persuading a crowd through words. I only thought that yelling at someone or punching them until they listened would get people to listen to me. “Let's take a look back into the last century for a moment: the year was nineteen sixty-nine in New York when the Stonewall Riots occurred.

“This event was the police raiding a gay bar since the police often frequently checked on suspected gay bars during the time. This event also signified one of the first times in America where gay people actually fought back since they were tired of fighting all of the oppression during the sixties, and the anti-war and more liberal ideas in America also contributed to their defensive actions. Most of the people in the Stonewall Inn, surprisingly, went against the police's orders and when people were dragged out of the bar being arrested, an entire crowd of fellow gays, gay rights supporters, and anti-police people surrounded the bar and watched in silence. However, when a transvestite was pushed by a cop and a lesbian was beaten with a club after complaining that her handcuffs were too tight, the entire crowd began to boo and became restless. So the crowd shattered the inn's barred windows in an attempt to attack the police officers that were trying to arrest and subdue them. Anyway, the night ended eventually with arrests and a few wounds, but it left a scar on America and brought the question of homosexuality to the forefront of discussion on everyone's mind.

“This attack shows how gays have been treated like the scum of society for so long, and now that America has moved on from all of the inequality of women's suffrage, slavery, African-American rights and equality, and even Asian equality, why not focus on the population that still hasn't gotten equality yet: the LGBT community.” Kent had somehow walked all the way to the front of the cafeteria where everyone could see him. His hands were relaxed and at his sides.

I took a look around the room and noticed how full the cafeteria had become jam packed; all of the tables and seats were full of students, and even at that, people were still flowing into the room like a free-flowing current and standing in the back of the room watching and listening to Kent speak.

“”Currently, only New York, Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are the only states that recognize same-sex marriages, while Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Argentina, Iceland, and South Africa are the only countries to legalize same-sex marriages. Even Mexico recognizes it, but the marriage is only performed in Mexico City. So clearly, gay rights are making their advances, and some might say that the gays already have enough rights and equality across America and the world. But I say that equality is not reached until something is fair across the entire country; not just a handful of states and countries.

“What happened to remembering Dr. Martin Luther King's speech about how someone's character was to be judged by the content of someone's character? What happened to treating all people the way that you want to be treated? Didn't we already learn from the Holocaust during World War II that it's not okay to kill someone because they are different than the rest of the 'ideal' population thought by one evil man? The fact that we are all different makes us unique and special. If we were all the same, would anyone ever get anything done that was recognized as special?

“As humans, yes, we will have all of our flaws, like one arm is longer than the other, we may have a speech impediment, maybe we have a gap between our teeth, or maybe we're gay or bisexual. But this is what make us beautiful. It's just part of being human; if we were all perfect, life would basically be a cookie-cutter movie filled with beautiful people with a beautiful, perfect life for everyone and cliché endings. And as nice as that sounds, it's just not true and it's simply impossible for anyone to attain. Everyone has their own demos and struggles that they must overcome.”

Kent was now making his way back to the table where Caitlin, Roger, and I were still standing in awe of his speaking ability, where he stood back on the table with me and took my hand into his and locked his fingers with mine. I noticed that they were shaking quite a bit, yet I never saw any sign of nervousness while he was talking.

“And so, my final closing statement is that you don't have to love gay people; that was never my intention to make all of you guys staunch supporters of gays. But, my main point was to try to get all of you guys to try and realize that gays are still people too, and that it's not okay to make fun of them, no matter whoever is the one who started making fun of them first. So, hopefully if you see a gay person being picked on just because they're gay, which I still hope doesn't happen, you're willing to at least help them in some way. You don't need to go up and punch the person, but you should at least call the police for them and stay nearby to make sure that when the police do arrive, you can tell them what you saw. You don't even need to say your name if you don't feel comfortable with it; you can stay anonymous. Or you could just even tell people to stop using the word 'gay' to describe things that are stupid. That is something that I was trying to accomplish by talking to you guys today. That's still showing respect for gays.

“And so, with nothing else for me to talk about, thank you for listening and hopefully you'll follow my advice and become a little bit more supportive of us gays than you were earlier.” Ken smiled and looked at me and I knew then that he wanted to leave the cafeteria and finally get cleaned up from the somewhat dry milk that still lingered on him.

As we were walking, I heard a sound; a certain sound of clapping to be more exact.

So both of us turned to see a smiling Jerry by the salad bar clapping with deliberate slowness, yet extreme confidence and pride. And as if it were a movie scene finale, more and more people started to clap with Jerry until the entire cafeteria was clapping as if Kent had scored the winning touchdown for a football game; just like I had done not too long ago on the football field.

I smiled at Kent and said to him as I ruffled his hair, “You did an amazing thing up there, Kent, I'm so proud of you. You did something that I could never do, no matter what. God, you're so much better that me. I don't deserve you-”

“Yes you do, Cole,” Kent said as he stopped smiling. “You're a great guy. You stand up for your brother and what's right. You're always there for me when I need a shoulder to cry on or someone to calm me down, or even listen to a stupid joke of mine. I am truly in love with you, Cole Bradley, and nothing can change that.”

“Kent,” I said softly as I stroked his face gently with the back of my hand.

“Just kiss me already,” Kent said quickly.

Of course, being the teenager that I am, I pulled Kent into a gentle yet sweet kiss with our lips meeting ever so perfectly. Ur lips molding together as if they were made for each other, which I totally believed.

As we kissed, the claps got even louder and even some cat-calls were made at us and, “Get some, Bradley!” from some of my teammates.

When we pulled apart, Kent and I walked out of the cafeteria and to the bathroom where I proceeded to clean Kent up...or whatever was left of the milk from earlier.

“You did an amazing job out there, Kent. I don't even know how you did it,” I said calmly as I wiped a wet paper towel across Kent's beautiful face.

“Thanks, but all I did was just say what I've felt for so long; I guess that's why it came out so naturally.” Kent's eyes began to water.

“What's wrong, Kent?” I asked, uncertain of what was causing him so much distress.

“I'm just...I feel so free right now,” Kent grinned as tears fell down his face. “I've never been so happy since the first time you said that you loved me,”

“I'm glad you feel happy now,” I said as I finished cleaning Kent.

We just looked at each other's eyes in pure silence and savored the moment.

I pulled him into a deeper kiss than in the cafeteria and let my lips speak for me during our kiss. I was able to show him how proud of him I was, how great of a guy he is, and most importantly, that I love him.

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So how do you feel about the speech?

Well, anyway, this book is slowly coming to an end, but not yet, so don't worry just yet.

I hope that you like this chapter since it means a lot to me since it came from my heart, and I felt the need to write it and state my opinion. Remember, one voice can make a difference.

Please vote, comment, and or message me if you liked this chapter.

~Michael