Tomorrow, I wake up practically dancing through the room. Feathers flies in circles around me. I give her some food and then, together, we go downstairs. My parents await me. Even my grandmother was there, through a video call. I think about what I should say. After I make myself some courage I speak:

“Mother? Father? Can I talk to you for a second?” I ask a bit nervous.

Feathers sits on my shoulder for encouragement.

“Oh, dear, of course!” my mother says with an empathetic expression on her face.

“I wanted to tell you something about me. You see, for a long time, I observed something in me, which scared me at first. It was love. But not for a girl. It was for a boy. I am gay!” I manage to say, even if it is with lots of difficulty.

My mother and father embrace me immediately.

“Oh, dear, we’re so proud of you! It must have been so hard for you to tell us!” my mother says.

“It was!” I admit.

“I’m also proud of you! I would hug you, but I can’t!” my grandmother adds from the tablet on the table.

“We will always love you. Whoever you are and whoever you decide to be!” my father says.

“Thank you!” I say and smile. “Did you know?”

“Yes. It was pretty obvious.” my mother admits and we laugh.

“I admit that I did not realise it!” my father says and blushes, embarrassed.

After that, we all eat breakfast together and I, now blushing, say:

“There is one more thing… Rafael is my boyfriend!” I say, feeling my face hot.

“Oh my god! I knew that would happen!” my mother says and hands her hand to my father.

“Oh, come on, darling, I didn’t think you were that serious.” he says.

“Oh, I was!” she says with a smile.

He hands her ten euros and we all laugh.

“Did you put a bet on me?” I ask amused.

“Yeah, I was extremely sure you two were in love, but your father didn’t believe it.” she says happily.

“He is a very nice boy. I’m proud of you! Again!” my father says with a chuckle.

“We both are!” my mother adds.

“I personally can’t wait for the wedding!” my grandmother says happily and I blush.

“Mother! You’re embarrassing Noah!” my mother says.

“Sorry! Couldn’t help myself!” my grandmother says and we all laugh.

I finish my cereal. When I’m done, I pick up my bag and leave for school. Feathers flies back to my room. When I open the courtyard gate, instead of seeing an empty road, I see Rafael.

“Thought I would walk with you to school!” he says with a grin.

“How romantic!” I joke and kiss him on the cheek. “Come on, then!” I say and walk ahead.

After a second, he snaps out of the trance I put him in, and, while blushing, he takes my hand. We walk while joking and flirting a lot. And I mean A LOT! Now that we are an actual couple, our flirting is official! And I love every second! I even tell him about my coming out and he becomes ecstatic. At the intersection, we meet Selena.

“Well, I guess, after I wing woman for you two, I am now the third wheel!” she says jokingly.

“No, you’re not!” I say.

“Yeah… Not convinced.” she says teasingly.

We all laugh together. Then, out of nowhere, Rafael snatches Selena’s camera and takes a selfie of the three of us.

“See? You aren’t a third wheel!” he says and hands her the camera.

While joking, we continue the road to school. Now that I am happy with who I am, me and Raf decided to not keep our relationship a secret. So, when we arrive at school, the two of us enter the classroom while holding hands. We are a bit nervous about the reaction of our classmates. They are good people, but we don’t know them very well. But, the moment they see us, they all start clapping. Some of them gasp but then smile happily.

“Took you long enough!” my classmate Andrew says while walking to me.

“Don’t tell me you knew too.” I say.

“Of course we did! It was very obvious!” another classmate called Anna says.

The whole class nods in approval. Guess I was terrible at hiding it. They all stand up and congratulate us.

“We’re so happy for you two!” some classmates shout over the others.

“Thank you!” I say, amused by the situation.

Before I never really interacted with them. Because of online school, we barely talked, so I didn’t know them very well. I didn’t feel like part of the class before. But now. Everything changed! For the first time ever, I feel like part of this community! Part of this class! We all joke around together! I make lots of new friends and feel happier than ever before. Inspired by us, some other people from the LGBTQ+ community start to come out. It is so nice. A more accepting class than you could ever find. Full of kind-hearted people! I love them all! Platonically of course. My heart belongs to someone already! Me and Raf kiss at one point and the whole class claps again. Happily for us, we have two free hours, as texted by the English teacher, so we can talk a lot! And I mean a lot! I finally got to talk to everyone! While before I was scared of them, now I am friends with all of them. Trying their activities, laughing at their jokes. Why didn’t I do this before? Now, to celebrate all of us who came out, the class has decided to throw a party! We push all the tables to the side, and we all start dancing! I am so happy! I am dancing with Raf. My head is leaning on his chest. I feel his breath go through my hair like a gentle breeze. We are dancing slowly.

“I’m so proud of you! You finally came out of your shell!” he says.

“I know! And I love it! Not as much as I love you though!” I say.

He laughs and kisses me on the head. But sadly, later, just like all good things, our party comes to an end. We put everything back in order. We have chemistry next, so we are pretty sure it is going to be another free hour, but it is better to be safe. As we all talk happily, the door is thrown against the wall. He is back! All the happiness is instantly drained from the room. We all sit down quickly. Everyone fears and hates him. But today, he looks even more evil than usual. This wasn’t going to end well. Everyone looks at us. He hates us the most and he is a massive homophobe. They knew what would happen should he find out. I look scared at Rafael and he squeezes my hand for encouragement. But we already knew it wasn’t going to end well for us. The moment the professor sits down, he has a manic look in his eyes and an evil smile.

“Ahhhh! My dear friends! How I’ve missed you! Noah, Rafael and Selena, please come to the front!” he says while his manic smile widens. “Oh, and don’t cause a scene. I already have made some papers to make sure that if only one sound you make, you’ll be expelled.”

He hits violently three papers that are in his hands. Then, he takes a bag of tomatoes. He goes to every bench and leaves a few.

“Now students, today we’ll take a look at how tomato juice is good for the skin! Throw your tomatoes at the targets!” he says while pointing at us. “Oh! And if any of you don’t comply, I’ll make a few more papers just for you! Now. Begin!” he says, and his smile widens again.

Our classmates look terrified at us. They don’t want to do it. Some even have tears and mouths silently a “Sorry!”. But, without a choice, they throw the tomatoes. Some even close their eyes. Some look furiously at the teacher, a look of pure hatred in their eyes. The tomatoes hurt a lot. Even if they tried to throw them weakly, the teacher chose the hardest tomatoes ever. Our clothes become fully red. Tears of pain started to appear on our faces. Rafael puts himself in front of me and Selena. His beautiful hair is now orange and he is trembling from the pain. It feels like it will never stop. Please stop! I can’t see him hurt anymore. I try to catch a tomato, but I can’t. It hits him in the chest. His clothes are ruined, and his eyes are full of tears.

“I know what you are! Three gays! I heard about your little party! Pathetic creatures! One of you even looks like the darkest hour of the night! A disgrace to humanity!” our teacher says with hatred in his voice. “You deserve this! Every second! Come on boys, hit harder! The girls are pathetic enough already!” he says while looking at the class.

Growling like an angry beast, he picks up a tomato and throws it. I could see its trajectory. I try to stop it, but it hits Rafael right in the face. His nose breaks and a red liquid comes from it. Blood. He falls to the ground.

“Rafael!” I shout and catch him.

My class looks at him in horror. They try to get up, but the professor growls again and they all sit back down. The tomato rain stopped. Tears fall from my face as I hold a hurt Rafael. I try to hold him straight, so he doesn’t drown in his own blood. I cry and Selena hugs us both. The teacher slowly approaches us.

“This. This is what people like you deserve.” He says with a satisfied expression.

I look at him, with more anger than I ever felt before. I want to lunge and destroy him! But… That will do nothing. Answering violence with violence will only create more. I need to be smart. I am a pacifist, and I will not allow this monster to take me down to his level, so I look at Selena.

“We must take him to the hospital wing!” I say, and, together with her, I carry him out of the class.