I was surprised to find out that Derek Adams got suspended. I genuinely didn't think the principal would stay true to his word, but I guess he's just full of surprises. 

Derek wasn't the only one who had picked on me since my forced outing, but after word of his suspension got out, only the occasional slurs were thrown my way and the more physical teasing ceased. 

I was sitting in fourth period, on a Tuesday, when a classmate I had never spoken to before, decided he would change that today.

"Hey, you're Luca Brooks, the gay kid, right?" Tch.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Okay, maybe I was still salty. But, I had every right to be.

"Sorry, it's just. I wanted to say I'm sorry about Natalie. I know you guys used to be close. It sucks that she used you like that." The guy seemed pretty sincere, but he looked pretty scared when I looked at him in confusion. 

"I'm sorry?" I quirked a blonde brow in his direction.

The guy was pretty scrawny and about my height, 5'5. His curly brown hair almost completely covered his eyes and I watched as his curls bounced with his movement. I think his name was Teddy.

"You don't know?" I shook my head.

"Oh. Natalie, she. . .well. . ." Teddy mumbled, looking down at his fidgeting hands.

"Spit it out." I huffed, slightly getting annoyed. Whatever this guy wanted to tell me concerned me, so why couldn't he just say it?

"She was the one who outed you and hung those pictures everywhere." Teddy squeaked and suddenly it all made sense. 

"Oh." 

"Yeah."

After that, neither of us said a word to each other again. 

Natalie Vasquez, my friend, was the one who outed me to the whole school? I couldn't tell if I wanted to cry, scream, or hit something. Maybe all three of those?

I didn't know, but what I did know was that I planned on confronting that bitch. Which was why, after the bell signifying the end of school rang throughout the building, I marched to Natalie's locker, hoping to catch her there. 

"Nata—!" I halted mid step, watching with widened eyes as Natalie Vasquez made out with none other than Dominic Fuller. 

I curled my hands into fists at my sides so hard I was sure there would be little crescent moon shaped marks left behind.

On the one hand, I knew now that I did, in fact, want to hit something, but on the other, I also knew I couldn't do that. My nerves wouldn't allow it, and although hitting Natalie and maybe Dominic square in the face would be satisfying at that moment, I would regret it later down the road. I don't want to be like them. 

So, I left. Without confronting Natalie and without hitting Dominic. 

I ran in the opposite direction, trying my hardest to get as far away from them as my legs would allow. All the way until I ran straight into Malcom, landing us both on the floor. 

And then I told him everything. 

After pouring all of my feelings out onto Malcom like a dam had broken somewhere inside me and a flood of water came pushing through, I felt somewhat better. Only a little, though. 

"Alright, this isn't working. Is there anything else you want to do?" Malcom's honey soft tone yanked me out of my head, and I looked up at him. These past few days, his eyes had been filled with concern whenever he looked at me and I wanted so bad for that to go away. I wanted him to be my safe haven again, not my caretaker. 

Sighing, I replied, "What do you mean? I love this movie. It's working."

After everything went down at school, Malcom took me home and stayed over, hoping that watching my favorite movie with me would help brighten my mood. It really wasn't working, but I didn't want to tell him that.

"You know what? I have an idea." I perked up, just slightly, to hear what Malcom Shoney came up with this time. Whenever He had an idea, it was always crazy, but fun. 

"Oh, yeah?" 

"How long has it been since you dyed your hair? You never keep it natural for this long, it's always some wild color, but lately you've just kept it blonde." I was born a natural blonde, and I took advantage of the fact that I never had to bleach my hair. I dyed it a different color whenever the previous had faded, but Malcom's right. It had been awhile since the last time I dyed it. 

I smiled a genuine smile for the first time in what felt like forever, and replied, "You know, I've been wanting to do that half and half look recently. What do you think about black on the left side of my head?"

"Perfect!"

So, I drug Malcom to Sally Beauty and thus began our hair dying escapade. 

"Oh my gosh, Malcom! You're not supposed to dye my face!" I was laughing so hard I could barely breath and Malcom was finding it hard to contain himself as well. 

We had long since picked the perfect shade of black and Malcom decided he wanted to dye my hair for me. Although my hair was looking great, the sink, my skin, and Malcom's hands weren't looking too hot. 

"I'm trying not to, but you keep moving!" I loved it when Malcom got like this, his voice was so full as he stopped every now and then to just laugh his beautiful, loud laugh. His eyes smiled too, turning into little crescent moons as his dimples were on full display. 

I smiled even wider, if that was even possible, and just enjoyed this moment with my best friend that I hoped would never end. 

After cleaning up our mess, it was finally time to rinse the dye out. 

I turned on the tub's faucet as Malcom stood behind me, waiting for me to finish so that he could dry my hair. 

Once the water was the right temperature, I began washing out all the excess black color and was entranced by how it turned the water black. I had never dyed my hair so dark before so I was pretty excited. 

"Hey, Malcom. Can you get this spot for me? I can't get all the soap out."

"Sure." And Mal helped me rinse out all the dye. His hands gentle as they practically massaged my scalp. He seemed to be entranced by the dye in the water as well. 

I loved this. I love him. 

Wait, what!?