Loss
Matthew awoke from his deep slumber. He got up slowly, trying not to wake Kevin, but realized that he wasn't there. He walked into the living room, not there either, he walked into the kitchen. No such luck. Matthew gave out a yawn. He had probably snuck out while he was asleep to go home, as his mom was rather skeptical about his activities. No need to have his mom discover that he was a homosexual, at least not now anyways.
Matthew tosses some toast into the toaster and let it cook. As he waited, his eyes wandered around the room until they locked onto the clock. 7:29 am. Monday morning. One word flashed through Matthew's mind as his eyes bulged, "School". He raced into his room and threw on some clean clothes. We wore a blue jeans, and a black t-shirt. Matthew wasn't really too worried about his "fashion". Frankly, he didn't care. He grabbed his book bag and keys, then hustled to his car.
Matthew pulled into the parking lot. It was packed. Matthew was fortunate enough to find one last parking space though. He took a quick glance at the time, 7:38. At least he wasn't too late. He barged into his classroom. "Late on the third day Mr. Michelson?" the professor said as Matthew entered. "I..got lost, sir." Matthew lied. "Very well, please take a seat and open your textbook to page 4 Michelson." "Yes sir."
Matthew looked for a seat, he knew none of the people in the class, and none of them looked too friendly. Matthew found the closest seat possible, which was about 4 rows back. He sat on the end next to a large brown horse, who looked annoyed with Matthew's presence. Matthew was about ready to get up and find a new seat, but the Professor began his lesson and it was too late.
Arithmetic was, by far, Matthew's least favorite school subject. It confused his mind in every way possible, so it was a mystery to him why he was in the class. Matthew opened the book, and began to listen to the lecture the professor was giving.
When the bell rang, all of the students scrambled out of the class. Matthew found his next class with little trouble, and walked in. Most of the other students weren't there yet, but a few had arrived already. One of them happened to be Kevin, who was waving to Matthew. Matthew walked down to the row that his mate was in.
"Here! I saved you a seat!" Kevin claimed. "Haha, thanks Husky-butt!" Matthew replied. "Sorry I ditched you this morning, I didn't need my mom on my case about homosexuality again." "Yeah, I guessed that." The bell rang again, signaling that class was now in session. Matthew looked at the chalkboard. "Read pages 150-200. Then write a summary about the passage and answer the questions at the end." it read. Matthew took out his History book. He flipped it open to the correct page, and began reading.
Soon, the bell rang, and the roomed cleared. "So what's your next class?" Matthew asked Kevin. "Chemistry....you?" "I've got English next. I think we've got the same P.E class though." "Yea, well, I'll see you then!" Kevin gave a little wink before scurrying his fuzzy butt to his next class.
This time, Matthew was the first one into the class, but only by a few seconds. He walked up and found a seat on the front row. English was his favorite subject. He watched all the students enter the class, and spotted his only two other friends walk in, John and Patrick. Matthew looked around, the two seats next to him were empty and every other was filled, almost like Matthew was repulsive. His friends waved and took the empty seats next to him.
For Matthew's favorite class, today seemed boring. The only thing he could think about was Kevin, and how he was going to explain to his friends that he had a boyfriend. Sure, his friends knew that he was gay, but he didn't think that they had actually ever taken him seriously. "Hey, I met this cool guy named Kevin at work one day...So I have a boyfriend now....." Matthew tried to a rehearse way to tell his friends of his new mate, but none of them helped him.
When the class ended, he stopped his friends outside of the classroom. "Umm...guys? I need to tell you something." he started. "Sure Mat, we're all ears." Patrick said has John nodded in agreement. "Um...I....have a....byrfnd...." Matthew shyly uttered. "A what?" John asked. "A....a..." Matthew wanted to tell them, but the words kept choking up in his throat. "Are you going to tell us or not? Me and you have P.E in 2 minuets." Patrick nagged, impatiently looking at his watch.
Finally the words found their way out of Matthew's throat. "I have a boyfriend."
There was a brief moment of silence. "Great, they think I'm a faggot now. Way to go Mat! More people that hate you!" Matthew thought to himself. "That's cool. I'm happy for you." Patrick said at last. "R-really? You don't think I'm a fag or anything?" "Nah, we've been friends forever! I'm cool with any of your decisions." Kevin continued. "Thanks! It really means a lot to me..." Matthew took a glance at John, who still was speechless. "So when do we meet him?" Kevin asked. "Next class, P.E! I'm not sure when John will though, maybe after school?" Matthew said looking towards John. There was another period of silence which was broken by the bell. "I'm late." John muttered, he turned and then walked away. Matthew grew a frown upon his face. "Eh, it'll be fine. He's probably still in shock a little bit. We should get going to class." Patrick suggested.
Matthew mindlessly nodded, and they walked to class. Matthew kept trying to convince himself that John was just "still in shock" as Kevin said, but it was hard to believe. John was tough so, the idea really didn't mix. "Pissed off, is a better description." Matthew thought to himself.
Matthew searched for Kevin in the locker room, but there was no sign of him. Matthew and Patrick quickly unchanged. Matthew thought for sure Patrick would show some kind of negativity towards his homosexuality when they both stood there with only a top and some boxers on, but no. Patrick acted like it was no different from the day before. It was nice to have a friend like Patrick.
When they walked outside, Matthew spotted Kevin. He leaned over to Patrick and pointed at him. "That's him." Patrick squinted his eyes and followed Matthew's pointed claw with his eyes. "The Husky?" he asked. "Yup, his name is Kevin." Kevin looked towards Matthew, waved and started walking over with a swing in his tail.
"Hi! You must be Patrick! I'm Kevin, Matty-poo's mate." Patrick glanced at Matthew in confusion. "'Matty-poo'?" he asked. "We've got a nickname thing going." Matthew said. Patrick stared at the two for a moment before shaking his head back and fourth a few times. "Yeah, I'm Patrick. Nice to meet you Kevin!" The two shook hands. "Hehe....tight grip...." Kevin said with a wink as he shook Patrick's hand. Patrick opened up his mouth, about to speak, but Matthew cut him off, "Patrick's not a homosexual." "Hmm....too bad. He doesn't know what he's missing." Before Patrick could respond, the coach called for a huddle so he could take roll. Then class started.
When school finally ended, the 3 searched for John, hoping he was in the mood to meet Kevin. They saw him in the distance practicing football with the rest of his team. "Dang, maybe tomorrow. I don't want to go near those football players...they're not the most friendly people." Matthew said. Kevin and Patrick gave an "Oh well" shrug and they all headed for their cars.
Matthew swung open the front door and did a little twirl, before closing it. He noticed his toast from this morning that he had left. He slid it out of the toaster and took a bit. "Eck" he said to himself as he tossed it out.
The house phone rang. Matthew hurried over to it and answered.
"Hello?" He started. "Hi Matthew." It was John. "Oh, hey. What's up? We were looking for you after school so you could meet Kevin but-" John cut him off. "I don't want to meet Kevin." "Huh? Why? He's really nice an-" he was cut off agian. "I'm getting picked on by MY team because of YOUR faggot of a boyfriend." "Well screw them." "No, screw you. Either dump your boyfriend, or we can't be friends anymore." Matthew paused for a moment. "That doesn't seem fair." "Well life's not fair. Either lose the faggot you found, or you lose me, who's kept you from getting beaten to a pulp by every bully that ever laid eyes on you. It's you're choice. Just make sure it's the right one." Then he hung up.
Matthew started choking up as tears rolled down his face and soaked into his fur. "Why does he have to be such a jerk? Why does he have a problem with Kevin? Why is he doing this? Why. Why. WHY!" Matthew sniffled a bit. "No. Fuck him. If he can't deal with my boyfriend, than he could go rot in hell." Matthew continued to think to himself. He called up Patrick and told him what had happened.
"I'm sure he's just a little...surprised still." Kevin said, trying to calm Matthew down. "Stop lying. You and I both know he's serious." Matthew replied, choking on his tears. "Look, we'll sort this out. I'll go talk to him tomorrow." "You'd to that for me and Kevin?" "Yup, I'd do anything for you. That's what friend's are for. I'll stand by you and Kevin forever. You two are meant for each other. I can tell." Matthew started to cry some more, but this time out of happiness. "Thanks. For everything." Matthew said.
Matthew didn't call Kevin. He didn't have the guts to admit one of his best friends hated his mate's guts. He couldn't pull himself to do it, no matter how many times he tried.
. . .
After another perplexing class of arithmetic, Matthew raced to find Kevin on the next day of school. As soon as he did, he gave him a huge hug. "Uh, thanks Matty-poo..." he said. "I should have told you before. John hates you because you're my boyfriend." "Well, that's his problem." "Patrick said he would try to talk to John about it. Maybe he could help sort things out." "We can only hope." Kevin said, as he hugged Matthew back. Luckily, there was no one else in the hall to criticize their love for each other. They walked into their History class together and got to work.
Matthew walked into English class, again the first one. He took the same seat as yesterday and waited. A flood of students entered the class, among them, was John. He stormed past Matthew's desk without stopping or making eye contact with Matthew. Patrick walked in, barely on time.
"So?" Matthew whispered to Patrick as he sat down. "Um...well... it didn't go well. He hates you and Kevin because his football teammates hate you guys for being...you know....gay....and so they are giving him a hard time because he's friends with you. To make matters worse, his coach said that he might boot John from the team because of this." He whispered back. "Why would John get booted from the team?" "Well, a teammates aren't suppose to be assholes to each other. John, being the only one who's getting messes with, its a lot easier to get rid of one person then the rest of the team." "Well...thanks anyways." "Yeah, I think I can official say that he hates me to for sticking up for you and Kevin."
Matthew sat alone at lunch break. Kevin had to do some extra studying, and Patrick was going to lunch with his family. The school always seemed deserted at break, either everyone had driven off to get lunch, or was studying. Few people actually ate at the school.
"So? Who'd you pick?" John questioned as he walked up to the table Matthew sat at. John looked hopeful that Matthew had picked him, and the fact that Matthew was sitting alone, without Kevin, seemingly confirmed John's belief.
"John listen. I don't know what's wrong with you. I love Kevin. I really do, and I don't get-" "So you chose him?!" John interrupted. Matthew paused for a moment. "Yes John. Yes I did." "Typical. Well, I can't hang out with a gay faggot like you because, unlike you, I actually care what people think of me. I hope you Kevin and Patrick are happy together." "Patrick's just being a friend, he's not a homose-" "IT'S CALLED GAY! G-A-Y GAY! YOU'RE FUCKING GAY! AND I'M JUST TRYING TO LOOK OUT FOR MY FRIEND!" There was a small period of silence. "No." Matthew started. "You're not being a friend. You're being selfish. If you were a friend, you would support me like Kevin. I've supported you through everything, even if it meant getting picked on. And when I need you, all you do is make up excuses to cover your sorry ass. Get out of my life John. And stay out." John clenched his fist and pounded the table, causing Matthew's food to shake a bit. "FINE! YOU FUCKING NAZI! SEE IF I CARE! YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET THIS YOU FUCKING HOMO!"
That hurt. John was the one who really helped him when everyone started branding Matthew with the name "Nazi" because his parents were German; and now he was the one burning him with the name.
John stormed off to the rest of the football team. Matthew sat alone again, and stared at his former friend as he walked away. Matthew got up and drove home. He didn't feel like going to school any more.