Wednesday, October 17th

     There were some disadvantages of being friends with a popular guy like Calix. It automatically caused his friends, like Jesse and Axel, to be popular too. And with popularity came rumours.

Since everybody kept an eye on ‘the cool kids’, everybody always seemed to know exactly what they did.

In school, and outside of school.

It surprised Jesse it had taken three days for rumours to reach his group of friends, and by the time it did, he felt even worse than he did the day before, when Loek had suddenly joined their soccer team.

And rumours, when reaching Jesse’s group of friends, went something along the line like;

“Sally told Myrtle that her boyfriend Rashid saw you with a guy. You were so wasted he needed to support you.” Ashton threw in casually while they were seated in the lunchroom, eating their lunch in relative peace.

“Jasmine told me that Evert told her you threw up outside of Gringo’s.” Pete chuckled.

Jesse had no idea who Sally, Myrtle or Jasmine even were, or why they would stick their noses into his business.

“Is it true you weren’t allowed back in and that’s why you left early?” Xavi frowned shortly, but then smirked. “I bet you weren’t allowed back in, right?”

“Throwing up sounds like something you’d do.” Ashton chuckled lightly.

“Why?” Jesse grumbled annoyed. “I’ve never thrown up outside of a club before. Why does it sound like something I’d do?”

“Because of the excessive amount of alcohol that you always drink.” Calix patted his shoulder while Jesse rolled his eyes.

“Esther said you fought, and that’s why you were suddenly gone.”

“Who the hell are these people even?” Jesse threw in with a whiny voice. “Why’re they talking about me like that? They don’t even know me.” He allowed his head to rest on the table while he let out a deep sigh. “I just left with Yoni, because we wanted to go.”

“You know why they’re talking?” Ashton took in a deep breath, letting Jesse know he was going to say something that wasn’t easily said.

“Well?” Jesse lifted his head up to look at him, and noticed Pete and Xavi were suddenly very interested in their food.

“Because there’s rumours about Yoni, and how she was spotted with another guy.” Ashton told him with a blank stare.

Jesse frowned, since he knew that couldn’t been true. Yoni, after leaving Gringo’s, had been with Donna, at Unity. Even if she would’ve been spotted with a guy afterwards, it probably didn’t mean anything.

“When?” Jesse asked with a bit of a mocking smirk. He knew most of the rumours that went around school were fake, but he never caught a rumour about him or Yoni that was fake. Why now, all of the sudden?

“Well, shortly after you left Gringo’s.”

“I call bullshit.” Jesse simply replied with a shrug. “I was with her, shortly after I left. Don’t believe everything people say. Most of these rumours are fake as fuck.”

“Yeah.” Axel nodded. “Like that one rumour, that Donna went to Unity? I call bullshit too.” He seemed so certain of his case that Jesse felt sorry for him. Why did he have to pick a rumour which was true? Why did he have to pick a rumour that Jesse himself knew was true?

“Why would she go there?” He laughed, and while most of the guys laughed with him, Jesse didn’t. He was looking at the table where the girls were seated, spotting Donna and Yoni right next to each other. And the former was currently looking towards them too.

This was all becoming way too big of a mess, and Jesse needed to find a way to put a stop to it, before it spiralled out of control.

If only he knew how to.

Donna didn’t seem to make a secret of her visit to Unity, and if people would start paying attention to her to see if the rumours are true, they would find out she indeed went to Unity.

It was only a matter of time before people would try to find out why she went there, and as soon as they would know about Yoni, Jesse’s life would become a whole lot harder too.

Indivertibly, if Yoni’s secrets would come out, his would probably follow soon. He needed to make sure that wasn’t going to happen.

He needed to tell Donna to take a few steps back, and wait for the rumours to lay down, before going back to Unity. And if she was into Yoni, and it was mutual, they could just as easily experiment with their sexuality behind closed doors.

But it didn’t take long before others started meddling. And with others, Jesse meant his two best friends. Right after lunch ended, they had hurried towards Yoni, and cornered her in the hallway.

Jesse saw it happen, but due to the busy commute from lunchroom to classrooms, it took him too long to get to them and stop them from asking the wrong questions.

“Who was the guy you were seen with?” Calix asked her, trying to play it off as casual. “Jesse might not know you were with a guy, but we saw pictures.”

“I-I don’t know wh-what you’re t-t-talking about.” Yoni sounded as if she could panic any second, and Jesse knew she easily broke down under pressure. He pushed himself through the mass, stepping in front of Yoni as soon as he could.

“Leave her alone, guys.”

“She was with a guy, Jesse.” Calix waved his phone in front of Jesse’s face while Axel crossed his arms.

“We’re just friends!” Yoni blurted out right before Jesse could tell the guys to stop meddling into her life. “He’s called Arnold and we’re just friends…”

“Arnold?” Axel sounded confused, but in his defence, he usually was confused, so it wasn’t a surprise. “Who the hell is Arnold?”

“A friend of Donna’s.” Yoni shrugged. “He’s really nice, but I’m not seeing him.” She shuffled a foot. “He’s not into girls.” She whispered afterwards, her head bend down.

“See, I told you the rumours are fake as fuck.” Jesse grumbled, allowing Yoni to slide her hand in his. He pulled her closer and kissed the side of her head. “Yoni is still mine, and mine only.” He smiled, because even if he knew it was fake, it still felt good that they had each other’s backs. “Let’s go, class is starting soon.”

     Yoni was running around her room, collecting items she needed to dye Jesse’s hair, while he himself waited on her bed, watching TV. He would help gather the items, if Yoni would let him. But she always misplaced stuff, so it would be useless. Jesse would only make a mess, according to Yoni.

“Do you feel like our secret will be out on the streets soon?” She asked while she pulled open a drawer to retrieve a towel. “Like, there’s tons of rumours and I think it’s not a coincidence they started now.”

“I sure hope our secrets won’t be out on the streets soon. I wasn’t planning on coming out before college.” Jesse answered, rolling over to look at her while she stood up with her arms full of stuff; hair dye, a towel, a brush to apply the dye, and more.

“Donna isn’t as careful as we are, because she’s free to do whatever she wants. The only reason she’s keeping quiet, is because I told her it was only fair to Axel if she’d tell him first. You know, so he understands why she broke up.”

“And she’s going to tell him soon?”

“No, because she’s afraid he’ll be angry, and she does care about him. They have been together for almost a year.” Yoni sighed deeply, heading over to her bathroom. “Are you coming?”

“Are you ready?” Jesse smirked, following Yoni towards the bathroom. “You didn’t say you were ready.”

“I’m ready, I think.” Yoni had dumped all the contents in her arms in the sink, pointing at them one by one while muttering to herself. “How do you think Axel is going to react once she tells him?”

“Angry.” Jesse shrugged, sitting down on the stool, facing the mirror. “Upset. He might get depressed and wonder if he caused her to become gay. You know how insecure Axel is.”

“I do, which is why I told Donna to act with care. But she’s… I don’t know. She says she likes me, she kisses me, but I know she’s kissed two other girls the week before.” Yoni bit her bottom lip, while draping a towel around his shoulders.

“So, she’s really experimenting, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, and I would too, but I like her. You know, just her, not other girls.” She shrugged with a shoulder and went on to prepare the hair dye in the meantime. “Donna’s sort of living on the wild side of life right now. She’s drinking way more than she used to.”

“Well, that I can understand.” Jesse admitted. “Ever since I found out about myself, I’ve been drinking more too. You know, because I can’t handle the whole situation in a club while being sober enough to think.”

“Think about what though? Me? Since I just found out?”

“No…” Jesse drawled. “It’s hard to be around the guy I like, knowing he’ll never be mine. It’s easier to be drunk and not care as much.”

“So, who is he?” She sent him a playful smile through the mirror. Yoni had a way to look cheeky and playful just by pulling up one corner of her lips. It was her daring look, asking for answers to questions she knew he didn’t want to answer.

“Pfft, I’m not telling. You’ll make fun of me.” Jesse rolled his eyes, but then sent her a smirk back. “Let’s just say he’s hard to resist in sober state.”

“Come on, Jesse. You know my crush too.”

“Yeah but you actually stand a chance. I don’t.”

“How can you be sure? Nobody expects you to be gay either. Who says your crush isn’t hiding in the closet too?”

“I do.” He said with a hint of annoyance seeping through. “I say he isn’t.” Jesse muttered, sighing deeply. “It doesn’t even matter. I’m trying to get over him.”

“By hooking up with a cute bartender?” Yoni nudged him, still smiling cheekily. “What’s his name?”

“Loek.” Jesse admitted, knowing he couldn’t keep everything hidden. It was only fair he told her something too. And Loek was a safe topic to talk about, since she didn’t know him, and she had obviously seen Jesse with Loek on Saturday. Else she wouldn’t be referring to ‘the cute bartender’.

“Loek? Just Loek?”

“Just Loek.” Jesse chuckled lightly. “I don’t know his last name. But he joined our soccer team.”

“Oh, damn. Did he tell anyone?”

“He knows nobody knows.” Jesse shrugged, but then turned to sit right, since Yoni had the dye ready. “I woke up in his bed on Sunday. Before I came here.”

“Yeah, I figured. You were still wearing the same clothes and you reeked of alcohol.” Yoni nodded seriously, while she was mainly focused on dyeing his hair in a pastel-pink colour, just like Calix had said would look good on him.

“Was it that bad?”

“Nah, nothing I couldn’t handle. Did you… you know?”

“He says nothing happened. I was too wasted. But apparently, I wanted it. I can’t remember though.”

“Do you still want it? If you see him when you’re sober?” She seemed way too curious, considering the fact they had slept together for the last time about a week ago. This was all too surreal and weird, but Jesse did feel comfortable talking about it with Yoni, and Yoni only. Which was the only reason why he decided to tell her the truth.

“Yeah, I think I do.”