1. He's Not Gay

Noah

Thinking back to that morning, I always try to find any kind of sign that it was going to be a different sort of day. The kind of day that changes your life forever. But I can't find any, not a thing.

My alarm clock went off like normal, and just like every other day I pressed 'snooze' like a gazillion times, until eventually my mum burst into my room and yanked the covers off my bed.

"Noah Blackby, get your lazy backside out of bed now!" she shouted before whooshing back out of the room like a tornado that had wreaked havoc then disappeared into thin air.

I groaned and rolled to the edge of my bed, letting gravity do the hard work as my feet plopped onto the floor.

I hated mornings.

A buzzing noise finally caused me to fully open my eyes so I could locate the source. It was my phone.

I quickly snatched it off my bedside table and checked the caller ID before answering.

"What's up Maxy Moo?" I said, just to piss him off.

"What's up, is that you've just cost yourself a ride into school," a rather disgruntled Max replied.

"Seriously, you've got the car?" I said, my mood suddenly improving tenfold.

"Yeah, but you're no longer invited."

"Oh come on Maxy....Max, I said Max then see. Max, come on Max, you know you wanna? You can't leave your bff all alone to walk into school now, can you?"

"Hmm, I don't know. It's gonna cost you...," he replied, and I felt my face pull into a smile at the same conversation we had every morning he had the car, just a slightly different version.

I sniffed noisily. "I think my mum's making pancakes?"

"Honey and syrup please, and plenty of it. I'll be round in 20 minutes. Be ready or I'll go without you."

"Fine, fine," I said, already walking to the bathroom.

"Oh, and ask Robin if he needs a ride too."

"Sure thing. See you soon."

As soon as I hung up, I immediately checked my phone for messages.

Robin was a bit of a night owl and had a habit of texting me random things in the middle of the night.

A smile spread across my face at the sight of a message received at......2:34am?!

Robin: I just did a headstand on my bed and I swear I'm now an inch shorter. Man, you need to measure me tomorrow! I'm not even kidding!!!

I snorted as I read. The boy was an idiot.

I replied,

Noah: Max is picking us up. He has the car :) Bring a tape measure!!

I chucked my phone back on my bed and headed into the bathroom for a quick shower.

I heard my phone buzz again, but forced myself to ignore it so I wouldn't be any later.

As I showered I thought about Robin. Whereas Max was my best friend, Robin was my 'cool' friend. We didn't hang around in the same groups at school, but somehow we had still become friends.

Robin was on the school football team, and mainly hung around with other guys on the team. I had my own group of friends, including Max, but none of us played on any sports teams. We weren't anywhere near the top of the social ladder at school, but we weren't at the bottom either. We were just that group of kids that went unnoticed by everyone but each other. And Robin.

I was paired up with Robin for a project on the Geography field trip about a year ago, and we instantly hit it off. We both had the same sense of humour and spent most of the time just goofing around.

I thought that when we got back to school, we'd never speak again, or just casually nod our heads at each other in passing, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

The first time he saw me at school after the trip, he shouted, yes, actually shouted across the corridor, "Yo, Noah, my man!" Before running over and literally jumping on me. Robin was a fair bit taller than me (one of the reasons why he played in goal for the football team) and I immediately collapsed to the floor, with Robin sprawled on top of me.

Robin burst out laughing, as did everyone stood around us, and Robin immediately climbed off me, before yanking me up by my arm and pulling me in for a one armed 'bro hug'.

Despite me actually being in quite a lot of pain from the fall, I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. Because the popular Robin was not only acknowledging me, but was also showing everyone else he was my friend too. And also there was just something about Robin that was incredibly infectious, and he always made people smile.

We still had our different friend groups, but occasionally Robin would sit with us at lunch, and he always sat next to me in Geography. Geography was my favourite lesson. We always had such a laugh.

I decided to make a bit of an effort today and used some gel to neaten out the hair on the back of my head and spike it up at the front. The hair gel made my hair look a darker shade of brown, which I liked better.

I threw on my uniform and ran downstairs in time to see my mum shoving some pancakes into tupperware containers.

I rarely had time to eat breakfast at home.

"I'm guessing I'm packing one for Max too?" she asked.

"Yes, and can you do one for Robin as well? Max has the car today so he's picking us up."

"Fine," my mum said with a slight huff and eye roll, but I knew she loved it really. She was the kind of mother who constantly liked to protest about the 'never ending stream of extra work' I provided for her, but I also knew that in reality she wouldn't change a thing. She loved being a provider. Whether that be of food, advice, or just plain old motherly love, she was always there for me.

I heard a car honk its horn outside signalling that Max had arrived.

I grabbed my bag and was about to head out of the door when I realised I'd never retrieved my phone off my bed, and that I had an unread message.

I shot upstairs, then read the message on my way back down.

As expected it was from Robin,

Robin: I'm already at school. We had an early practice today. See you soon. Oh and bring me some yumyum. I swear a lion is trying to claw its way out of my belly right now!!

I smiled and threw my phone into my bag.

"See you later mum," I said, scooping up the three boxes of pancakes and heading to the door.

Max had shovelled the entire contents of his box into his mouth before I had even had chance to put my seatbelt on.

"Oh dude, that's gross!" I said as I watched him desperately try to chew while he couldn't even shut his mouth properly.

"Ot?" he asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Do I even need to answer that when you just showered me in half chewed pancake?" I asked, flicking a bit off my leg.

Max just carried on chewing and set off down the road.

"Oh, Robin doesn't need picking up. He had football practice so he's already at school."

"Great!" Max said, finally managing to swallow the contents of his mouth. "That means i can have his," he said, making a grab for the second box on my knee.

"Oh no, just because he isn't here, doesn't mean he doesn't get any," I said, holding the box out of Max's reach.

"That's exactly what it means!" Max argued. "What's that saying, you snooze you lose?"

"He's not snoozing, he's playing football!"

"Potato, Potarto," he said, grinning.

"Tough, you're not having it," I said, pulling the box into my arms protectively.

"Come on, it's not like he even knows about it," Max whined, giving me his best pleading eyes.

"It's still a no."

"Fine!" Max said, a slight pout appearing on his face, "just don't expect me to watch when you go lick his ass."

"What?! That's gross!"

"Oh come on Noah, you practically worship the ground he walks on."

"Do not," I mumbled, staring fixedly ahead.

Max just laughed.

Thankfully we pulled into the school car park not long after.

"Have you done your Maths homework?" Max asked once we were walking towards the school.

You see that was the thing about me and Max. It didn't matter if one of us teased the other, or if we got a little annoyed with each other, because just 10 seconds later it was like it never happened.

"Yeah, but it took me forever," I replied.

"Me too."

We headed towards our lockers, which luckily were only a couple of meters apart.

I was still swapping books from my bag to my locker when I heard him.

"Noah, Noah, Noah!" he said, coming over and grabbing the box of pancakes from out of my locker. "Where have you been all my life?"

I laughed as I watched him practically drool over the pancakes in his hand.

He looked like he was about to open the lid on the box, then he paused and put the box down by his feet.

"Oh my god, I nearly forgot," he said, holding up his right hand towards me.

I laughed then connected my right hand with his, with a slap, then we proceeded to do our lame ass hand shake that we'd made up a couple of months ago. It consisted of a variety of hand slaps and shakes, then ended with the typical one armed guy hug.

As soon as we pulled apart, Robin ruffled my hair - a habit that he'd only acquired fairly recently. If it was anyone else, I probably would have punched them, hard, but for some reason I didn't mind when Robin did it. I think he only did it because he was so much taller than me.

"See you in Geography Noah, and tell your mum that I love her," he said, waving the pancakes around, before he disappeared into the sea of people heading to first lesson.

"Well hello Max, it's nice to see you too!" came a whiney voice from next to me.

"Oh don't be jealous Max! It's only because I came with food."

"Yeah, yeah," Max mumbled as I closed my locker.

"See you at break," I said, before heading off to my first class of the day, English Lit.

Max waved then wandered off to the science department. Max was considerably brainer than me and was taking all the sciences and maths as A-levels. I'd gone for English, Geography and Art. I was more into the arts than sciences.

I walked into English lit and sat next to Josie, in my usual spot.

"Hey, Noah," she said quietly and looked at me briefly before moving her eyes back to the book we were studying.

"Hi Josie," I replied with a smile, even if she was no longer looking.

Josie was incredibly shy. At first I was worried that she might like me or something, because she always blushed when I talked to her, but I quickly realised she was like that with everyone.

Not that I cared if she liked me or not. I just didn't really want a girlfriend right now. I wasn't really sure what the big deal was. Not when there was the internet full of boobs to look at.

Miss Stanley, our teacher arrived, and told us to read Chapter 4, then discuss the importance of the chapter within the story with the person sat next to us.

After a few minutes silence while people read, a general murmur started up around the class as people began talking.

Jodie was really insightful and came up with some great ideas, and we were soon done.

I began doodling on my pad as Jodie entertained me with a story about her new kitten.

The name 'Robin' being mentioned suddenly grabbed my attention, and I zoned Jodie out as I began focussing on the conversation going on behind me.

"Well that's just typical isn't it," Sharna moaned, "why is it always the hot ones?"

It wasn't much of a surprise to hear Robin being described as hot. I suppose he was good looking if you were into that. He had light brown hair, that always went a bit blonde in the summer. He liked to keep it quite long, sort of just below his chin, but sometimes his football coach made him cut it. And he had the most intense green eyes I'd ever seen. I think it was his smile that did it for most girls though. He had one of those perfect teeth commercial type smiles that made girls melt in front of him.

Girls were so shallow though. I would never like someone just because of how they looked. I was friends with Robin because he was a great guy, not because he looked pretty.

Sharna and Lilly carried on their discussion.

"I hope it's not true," Lilly said.

"It must be true, there's a photo to prove it," Shana argued.

"Yeah I suppose you're right. Poor Robin, I wonder if he's seen it yet."

That comment finally made me turn around.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"The picture of Robin on instagram. Have you not seen it?"

"No what picture?" I asked.

"It's a picture of him and that guy Bradley from Rushton College, you know with the blue hair?"

I knew who they were talking about. Bradley went to another college that was just on the other side of town. Everyone knew who Bradley was, because he made sure everyone knew who he was. He was extremely flamboyant and openly gay.

"And?" I asked not quite sure what the problem was.

"And they were getting rather cosy together," Sharna added.

"Outside Checkers," Lilly added.

Checkers was a local club well known for being popular with gay people.

"Oh my god, do you really think Robin is gay?" I asked laughing.

"It sure looks that way to me," Lilly said with a shrug.

"You're all mad! There's got to be an explanation, you'll see."

I turned back to face the front and chuckled to myself. Robin was going to kill himself laughing when he heard about this.

By the time class was over I was bursting for a pee so I headed straight to the loo. I went into a stall as I wasn't keen on peeing in front of other people. I'd get stagefright.

I'd only just locked the door when I heard two other guys come in.

"Should have known he was a fag with that hair," one of the guys said.

"I know, he basically looks like a girl anyway," said the other one.

I felt my blood start to boil.

They better bloody not be talking about Robin.

I quickly finished my piss and zipped myself back up.

"And Bradley as well. Jeez Robin, have a little pride."

That was it, and I burst out of the stall with my hands balled up into fists.

I didn't recognise the voices and was expecting to see some bully type figures stood there, but was surprised instead to see the wide eyes of two small geeky looking boys, that I vaguely recognised from seeing in the library.

"Robin is not gay," I spat out at them. "Call him that again, and you'll feel my fist on your jaw."

Both the boys nodded frantically before bolting out of the toilet.

I shouldn't be surprised really. Those at the bottom of the food chain loved it when someone on the top fell off their perch. They were like piranhas just waiting underneath to chop them to pieces the moment they fell.

I quickly washed my hands and hurried off to find Max. I needed to find a way to stop these rumours. And quickly.

I found Max taking a drink out of the water fountain.

"Max!" I shouted as I ran over.

"Woah, what's up Noah?" he asked looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"Have you heard what they're saying about Robin?"

"Oh, that, yeah," he said before bending back over the water fountain.

"Oh my god! Is that all you've got to say?! People are spouting shit about my friend...our friend, and 'oh, that, yeah' is all you can say?"

Max took a deliberately slow few more mouthfuls before standing up and looking at me with much the same expression that my dad sometimes wore when I was tugging on his last nerve.

"Look Noah, I'm sorry Robin might not be who you thought he was, but don't get snarky with me about it."

"You mean you actually believe it?" I said, the end of the question practically coming out as a squeek.

Max shrugged. "I did have my suspicions".

"Fuck you Max, just fuck you!" I spat out then stormed off before I could do anything I would regret later.

I headed straight for my next class, even if I was early. I was just pissed that I sat next to Max in this class. It was general studies. An absolute waste of time, but pretty much a guaranteed good grade.

I was still fuming at Max as I sat down in the empty classroom. How could he believe what he always called High School gossip? I thought he was better than that. I thought he was a better friend too.

I took out my phone and opened up a text to Robin.

I started texting,

Noah: Hey, have you heard what they're saying about you?

I deleted that. I tried again.

Noah: Hey Robin, how are you doing?

No, I deleted that too.

Noah: Hey Robin, I'm here if you need to chat.

No, definitely not. That sounded gay.

I stared at my phone blankly then began scrolling back through some of my old texts from Robin.

I was full on laughing by the time the rest of the class started filing in.

"Well, I'm glad you've cheered up," came a voice from next to me as Max sat down in his usual spot.

The smile on my face was immediately replaced by a frown.

"Yeah, it's no thanks to you," I mumbled out.

Max sighed.

"Look Noah, I'm sorry if the idea of Robin being gay offends you in some way, but you better prepare yourself, just in case it's true."

I stared at him, slightly open mouthed.

"Firsty," I said, holding up one finger, "gay people don't offend me. Secondly," I held up a second finger, quickly closing them together when I realised I was giving the V sign towards the door that the teacher would be walking through any minute, "I don't need to prepare myself, because thirdly, he is not gay!"

"How can you be so sure?" Max asked while digging out his pen and notepad out of his bag.

"Because I know him," I argued back.

Max raised an eyebrow at me. "Intimately?"

"What? No!"

"Then I'll ask again. How do you know?"

I thought about it for a few seconds. How did you know whether someone was straight or not?

"I don't know," I said, madly trying to think of something. "The other day, he said he thought Bethany was cute!" I said triumphantly.

Max shook his head, "No, Harry said she was cute, Robin just agreed."

"Isn't that the same thing?" I asked scrunching my nose up as I attempted to understand his logic.

"Definitely not," Max replied.

I was about to question that further but Mr Wilson chose that moment to come striding in and demand silence, so putting an end to our conversation.

I couldn't concentrate all lesson. I just kept thinking about what Max had said. How could you tell if someone was straight or gay? I guess it would be quite easy to hide. Me and Max didn't talk about girls very often, I guess the conversation just didn't crop up. And I don't think I'd ever talked to Robin about girls either.

Wait......there was that one time on the field trip.

I tried to dig up the memory.

It was a fairly warm day and Molly Piper had just walked into the dining hall wearing shorts cut so high I swear you could see like 80% of her bum cheeks.

(flashback)

"Hello, earth to Noah!" Robin said, clicking his fingers in front of my face.

I tore my eyes away from Molly's ass and looked at Robin.

"Dude, did you just see that?" I asked, not sure how Robin could have missed it.

"What? Molly's arse hanging out of her shorts? I'd have to be blind not to!"

I sniggered at Robin's response.

"Were her tits hanging out too? My eyes were so glued to the bottom half, I forgot to look?"

"God, your a perv," Robin said but chuckled nevertheless.

"Hey, its not my fault! And you looked too!"

"Yeah well she can't parade around with it on show like that and not expect people to look!"

"I guess so," I replied with a shrug, but I couldn't help but notice that his eyes were fixed over towards where she was now stood getting some breakfast.

I just laughed and punched him on the shoulder lightly.

(end of flashback)

"No," I said to Max, "he's definitely not gay."