Rainbow High Read Online Free Page B

ex-girlfriend, Kyle couldn’t receive public recognition.
    But if Jason came out . . . Kyle reveled in visions of the prom, whirling around the dance floor with Jason, arm in tuxedoed arm.
    “Are you sure?” Kyle asked, not wanting to get his hopes up.
    Jason gave a weary sigh. “I don’t know. It’s just . . .” His voice became agitated. “Sometimes I feel like I’m going to explode—or implode—if I keep hiding. It gets to where I just want to tel everyone and get it over with—not just Coach, the team, too. Does that sound crazy? What’s happened with you and the swim team since the locker thing?”
    The “locker thing” had happened after December break. Someone scratched QUEER on Kyle’s hal locker. Kyle repeatedly asked the school administration to repaint it, and they did nothing. Final y he got fed up. One morning he marched to school, and beneath the word QUEER he spray-painted AND PROUD!
    The news raced around school. The fol owing day his locker was repainted, but not before some teammates took notice.
    “A few of the guys won’t talk to me anymore, but they were never real y friends to begin with. Besides, swimming is different from basketbal .
    Except for relays, you’re real y on your own. In team sports, you’re a lot more reliant on each other.” Jason nodded, slowly chewing a bite of cake. “So you don’t think I should do it?” Kyle immediately thought, Of course you should do it! He had always encouraged Jason to be honest and accepting of himself.
    But before he could say anything, Jason confided, “I’m afraid I’l lose my scholarship.” Kyle set his fork down. “For coming out? They wouldn’t dare. Look at how we fought for a GSA and won. If they tried to take your scholarship, we’d fight that, too. You’re not going to lose your scholarship. You’l come out; we’l go to Tech together and graduate side by side.” He almost added how gay marriage would hopeful y be legal by then, and about the kids they’d adopt and how they’d live happily ever after.
    But he decided he’d leave that discussion for later.
    “Just suppose,” said Jason, tapping his fork, “I did lose my scholarship—”
    “Jason,” Kyle interrupted. “I told you, you’re not—”
    “But just suppose,” Jason insisted. “Would you stil go to Tech?”
    “Wel ,” Kyle said, “could you stil go without a scholarship?”
    Jason shrugged. “I don’t know how I’d pay for it. My mom can’t afford it, especial y with my dad gone. I could get loans, but not enough to go away. I’d probably stay home and go to community col ege, then transfer later.” Kyle felt his heart sink. More than anything, he wanted to be with Jason. But did he want it enough to put aside his dream of going away to a university?
    “I hate this!” Kyle blurted out. “Our society is crazy. Why should we even have to deal with this? Our whole future together shouldn’t hinge on whether you’re honest and come out. It’s homophobic BS .”
    Jason leaned back, looking a little blown away by Kyle’s outburst.
    “I’m sorry.” Kyle took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to go off like that.”

    “It’s okay. I’m sorry I brought al this up. It isn’t your problem.”
    “It is my problem,” Kyle told him. “If you don’t go to Tech, where would that leave me? What you decide affects both of us.” Jason looked back at him, a solemn expression on his face. “Maybe I should forget al this,” he said softly.
    “How?” Kyle said. “It’s not going to go away. Do you want to go through col ege like this? What happens if they find out after you’re already there and take away your scholarship then?”
    Jason bit into a fingernail. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
    “At least,” Kyle said soothingly, “if you come out now, you’d be, I don’t know, like, a role model—someone people would look up to.”
    “Yeah, right,” Jason said. “No one’s going to lookup to me.”
    “I do,” Kyle said,