Chapter 2:Archie's weird behaviour

"Hey boy, you must be Henry, I saw your name on the roster and knew I didn't recognize it. I'm Coach Erixon,' she says, holding her hand out for me to shake it.

"Oh sorry, his coach, it's super nice to meet you," I tell her after being distracted.

"So have you danced before? l want to know to see what your skill level is at and we just go from there," she tells me, holding a clipboard in her hands as she prepares to write whatever I say on it.

"I've been dancing since I was very young and I also have done gymnastics for the

last three years to focus more on my flexibility to better my dancing," I tell her.

"Well, that's great! I guess you are a great dancer, I 100% love suggestions and opinions on the routine me and assistance come up with, so never be scared to speak up and tell me anything you know" she tells me.

"I won't hesitate to do so, '' I told her. Jenny comes in alone just as Erixon starts us off with team stretching before showing us the first routine that we'll be working on for months perfecting for the recitals they hold here at the school four times a year to show off what we've been working on.

"We're going to start with a contemporary dance that will have two groups having a conversation between them with two central focuses. It's inspired by Black Swan, so there will be an evil side and an angel side, like black and white." Everyone gets excited when they hear this, but I'm too preoccupied with feeling like someone familiar is staring at me from somewhere I did not know.

I turned around to stare behind me to see who the person was and guess what? I met the eyes of my crush, Archie, who was sitting in the audience with Robert next to him with his phone in his hands. Once Archie sees me staring, he immediately averts his eyes and whispers something to his friend before getting up to walk out. I could not help but admire his lifestyle.

"How will we decide who is on which side?" Some blonde girl asks, bringing me back to everyone else who's standing on the stage. Jenny comes over and Iinks her arm with me smiling as we all walk up to Erixon's computer where she's displaying the dance.

"We'll separate everyone equally once we figure out who our two leads will be. We'll do what we do whenever I have to make that decision, which is I'll teach everyone the dance and you'll all do it together and I'll pick two of you out" she says.

We all nod while everyone spreads out for her to start teaching us. After about an hour and a half of dancing, she dismisses us and tells us to be ready to perform in groups next time. I pick up my bag and make my way to the nearest bathroom to change into some khaki pants, a white t-shirt with an orange and blue flannel, and some vans. I think I need to step up the way and dress and look good.

Once I walk out of the bathroom, Jenny, Robert, and Archie are waiting for me there. I give them a confused look. "What are you doing?" I asked gently.

"We wanted to walk out with you," Jenny says as we start to make our way towards the parking lot. "So how was your first day here?" She asks me.

I nod my head. "It was cool, not the worst, not the best."

"Did you like the dance team?"

"Yeah, it was good. I like the ideas Coach Erixon has and I think the routine will look amazing if it's executed correctly" I tell her.

"Why'd you get all dressed up?" She says, pulling at my flannel a bit with a small smile playing along her face.

"I'm going to dinner with my family to celebrate the first day, I guess. I don't know too much about it"' I chuckle as we walk out the doors and into the parking lot.

We stop at a black car that looks pretty new and expensive, telling me that Robert must be well off when he pulls the keys out of his pocket before throwing his bag in the back. Jenny reaches over and gives me a small hug before walking over to the passenger side.

"I'll see you tomorrow, all right?" She tells me with a questioning look.

"Yeah, of course," I told her and I guess  I could say today was successful because it seems like I made at least one friend since I don't exactly know how Robert and Archie feel about me just yet, falling in love with Archie on my first day in the school seems so weird.

Robert and Jenny get in the car as I start to walk towards my car which is deeper in the parking lot I notice that Archie's walking a few feet behind me. I realize that he hasn't said even a word to me today even though I've caught him staring at me a bit and even right now, he seems very

tense and weird.

"Why are you so tense?" I ask him with a smile as I slow down to be at the same pace as him and his shoulders freeze up even more from us just being so close to each other. He looked up at me. "Since when am I tense?"

"Like the whole day," I say with a light chuckle looking straight into his bright hazel eyes. I get next to my car and pull the keys out of my bag, I see his arm reach out to grip my neck as he slams me against my door. His hazel eyes shift into a bright, electric blue colour and my eyes widen as I notice how unbelievable that is. I reach up to grip his arm to try to pull it away from me, but I feel his metal grip tighten as I touch him, so I pull my hand away and try to kick him, but his free hand catches my leg to throw it down. OMG what the hell are you doing, struggled to say that.

"What did l ever do to you?" I gasp out as his grip tightens on my throat, cutting off my oxygen supply even more.

"Don't spread your nasty ass gayness on me," he snaps into my ear before taking his hand away and starting to make his way to his car that seems to be a few rows down from mine, my eye widens with shock, not expecting him to talk about it so soon.

"It's not a fucking disease, you asshole!" I scream at him as I feel my throat start to throb and tears start to come to my eyes as l watch his retreating form tense up even more at the sound of his voice. feeling disappointed by what he did just now.

"Fuck you bitch!" He screams as he gets in his car before speeding away and out of my sight.

I unlock my car before getting in to set my forehead against the steering wheel to calm down my beating heart that's still reeling from the panic that man, that homophobic asshole, caused me. I sit there for a few minutes before l get the courage to start my vehicle and pull out of the parking lot to fake a smile at my family's dinner and try to understand what the hell just happened.

I woke up with a killer headache and my throat raw from what happened yesterday. I manage to roll out of bed and get dressed in some light blue jeans with some rips, a white t-shirt with cuffs decorated with rainbows, and black Vans. I finish getting ready and make my way

downstairs where my grandmother is sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a book in her hand.

"Good morning, Grandma," I tell her, kissing the top of her head before going to the medicine cabinet to get some for my headache.

"Good morning, pumpkin. How'd you sleep?" She asked, setting down her book that seemed to be How To Kill A Mockingbird. She and my grandfather are staying in the spare bedroom for a few days until their new house is officially theirs and they can move in.

"Fine, but I woke up with a bad headache," I said, taking two of the pills as she got up to probably start on breakfast for the whole house.

"My poor baby," she said to me. I picked up my phone and saw that I had a text from Jenny because sometime yesterday, she had gotten my number and texted me when she got home. We texted a bit last night and I can see that she's genuine and just really wants to be friends with me, but I honestly don't know if I can

do that if she's going to be friends with Archie after what he did to me, cause what the hell was that he frightened me.

What happened between you and Archie? She texted me and I sighed, not wanting to get into it with her right now, so I put my phone in my pocket as Jasmine was coming down the stairs.

She was wearing black jeans, a white t-shirt with a denim jacket, and some vans with her hair done up in a side braid.

"You look pretty," I tell her as I pour. some of the coffee in the pot into a travel mug to help me wake up a bit on the drive to school. My parents come downstairs in their work clothes as grandma keeps cooking. Once the food's done, Jasmine and l rush to eat before saying bye to everyone and heading out the door for our second day of school.

"Who was that girl that you talked to in the first block yesterday?" I asked my sister as I pulled out of our driveway and waved at Dad who was walking out of the house as we were leaving.

"That's Emilie, she's new too, so she didn't have anyone else to talk to, " Jasmine says and I can see a faint smile on her face, telling me that she might have made a good friend yesterday.

I kept quizzing her the entire way to school just so I could know how she was handling all of these crazy changes in such little time. Once we get to the school, we make our way through the parking lot and once we get inside, someone grabs me and pulls me to the side and Jasmine gives me a confused look.

I look at Jenny who's staring at me and holding my arm before I look back at my sister. "Can you make it to class yourself?" I asked her.

She looks around before nodding

slightly. "I think so."

Once she starts to walk in the way of

her class, I see Emilie making her way over to her and she immediately perks up, making me feel a lot better about letting her go on her own. I look back at Jenny who is now inspecting my neck to look at the slight bruises.

Henry, I'm so sorry. I would've never left

you alone with him if I knew he would

do this." Please kindly accept my apology. This is all my fault.

"is there a real reason why he would do

this?"

"What'd he say to you?" She asks and I'm immediately brought back to the moment that has messed me up since then.

"He told me to not spread my gayness

on him," I say and she averts my eyes

for a second, which tells me that she knows something that I don't. "I'm so sorry, Robert already talked to him because I forced Archie to tell me what he was hiding because I knew he did something.

I just didn't think it would be this way," she says, confusing the hell out of me because this way?

What the hell does that mean?

"Wait, what do you mean?"I ask and she averts my eyes again before grabbing my schedule that I was holding in my hand to find my first class of the day.

"We both have gym first, so let's go," she says, linking arms with me before guiding me to where the gym is since l had no clue where anything was.

"Are you going to tell me what you meant?" I ask her.

"Probably not. So the first day of gym, they don't make you change or anything, they just go over everything and then have an optional game,"

She tells me, making me roll my eyes because I want to know what she means. After all, there's a secret between her, Robert, and Archie that I don't know about.