Page 2 of Freshman Fifteen

Telling my family that I’m gay and was bullied for the last six years was not a conversation I wanted to have when they could put their two cents in repeatedly for months until I’m able to escape. I was hoping to only have to deal with it for a few days at most.

“Speaking of college,” he says as he reaches to bang on the glovebox to get the latch to pop. “You got another acceptance letter. This one is from that school in Pennsylvania you checked out a few months ago. It’s in Pens territory. What do you say?”

I look at the envelope he handed to me and can’t wrap my mind around it. I mean, I was planning on heading to Michigan since my twin brothers got selected to play for the USHL under 17 development team next year. Since Mom and Dad are going to be busy working and looking after Kris and Jordan, I was going to keep an eye on Jared and Marc, hitting up as many games as I could.

“What about Michigan?”

Dad pulls me across the bench seat into his arms. Even though I’m taller and easily a hundred pounds heavier than him, Wayne Xavier has never failed to make me feel like a cherished little boy when he embraces me.

“You deserve a life away from all of the reminders of here. You deserve a fresh start where no one from this hick ass town will follow you.”

“You’ve been in this hick ass town your whole life, Dad.”

Throwing me a wink, he pulls back onto the road to bring us home. I guess this means I’m going to Pittsburgh.

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