Page 7 of Bend Him, Break Him
It wasn’t easy, though. Since coming out, Colton had to watch his back more times than he could count. He had to let bridges of so-called friendships burn so he could forge ahead. He had to ignore cutting comments and slurs—when it’d be so much easier to knock someone on their asses. That last part had more to do with his long-standing track record of violence and the fact the disciplinary committee wouldn’t tolerate any more of his physical outbursts.
“I can share the story,” Colton said. “It definitely wasn’t an easy choice coming forward and coming out, but there’s been a lot of cool stuff since then.”
“You make it sound like you planned the press conference.” Isaac scoffed, seething at how everyone fawned over Colton’s story, Colton’s bravery. The rage was easy for Colton to identify, even without Isaac’s elaboration, but he could feel more heated words on the verge of spilling. “Here, I thought you only came out because you got caught shoving your dick down some dude’s throat. Not quite the heroic retelling everyone is prancing on about.”
Will coughed outlandish at that, followed by Mina and Carlos. Only Jazz remained silent during Isaac’s bitch fit.
Colton blushed, face burning hot. “Um, well, yeah… Ugh, there’s a lot of moving components which all, um, played a role in the decision making behind my decision making for the important decision, but um…”
“Ignore him,” Mina said, wrapping an arm around Colton’s and escorting him past Isaac and to the front of the meeting room. “He’s a sassy bitch, but he means neutral.”
Colton quirked a brow in confusion. “Do you mean well? As in, he means well?”
“Oh, God no,” Mina continued. “Isaac’s a cunt bag for sure and never means anyone well. Neutral for the most part, ill will to all the bigots of the world, anyone who annoys him, and probably the children. Maybe that last bit is just me. But they’re messy and loud. Disgusting. What about you? How do you feel about kids?”
And like that, Mina had washed away the tension between Isaac and Colton and dragged the jock down a rabbit hole of a dozen different questions, leading the conversation in moredirections than he could keep up. His perplexed stare and slow blinks didn’t seem to deter Mina as she laughed at her own comments and continued pushing more random topics.
Everyone chatted until the rest of the GSA members arrived, and Colton did his best to not look in Isaac’s direction, feeling his icy stare the entire time. Colton couldn’t have this life, this club, but he could do his best to enjoy the evening and make room for a few nice memories of what life could’ve been like if he’d made better choices.
Chapter Four
Isaacdrowned out Colton’s grating voice by focusing on the stack of essays he needed to get through. Professor Howard had been kind enough to place Colton’s essay among the set Isaac had to grade. She didn’t need the story or want it, but she did spiteful as well as the next person and made room for Isaac’s vindictive nature so long as he didn’t cross the line. Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman who understood the need for petty vengeance and justified suffering.
Screwing with Colton in the form of grading him too severely wasn’t much in terms of revenge, but it helped make the semester more bearable for Isaac. If he had to endure the absolute worst person in the world, then at least he could make Colton’s life miserable, too.
“…and admittedly, last year got away from me,” Colton said with a boyish chuckle, the kind that made everyone in the room join in for a laugh, too. “But it was a learning experience for sure. That’s why I’ve tried putting my best foot forward this year.”
Isaac scoffed. As if Colton had ever made a genuine effort with his academics. He used to threaten Isaac in middle school to help him on assignments, or he’d kick his ass. It was more of the same in high school, using his alpha meathead ego to knock Isaac around while simultaneously keeping the creepy goth kid close to him. With a purpose, of course. The threats of kicking Isaac’s ass eventually shifted to promises to pound it instead.
They’d never gotten past oral before Colton broke things off. Maybe Isaac had broken them off. It was difficult to know for sure who officially ended the arrangement, only that after what Colton did, Isaac never wanted him back.
“Let me just say that while you’re searching for yourself, don’t let your grades slip,” Colton said, reluctantly drawing Isaac’s attention. “Trust me, it’s an exhausting mountain to climb when you find yourself on academic probation.”
Colton’s grades suffered because he was lazy and used to other people handling his work. People like Isaac. And while keeping Colton’s semester grade at a C- offered Isaac pleasure, he knew in the end he’d have to let Colton pass and maintain his academic standing. It was satisfying watching Colton squirm in class, always so frustrated by the red ink Isaac covered his papers in but unable to argue the need for improvement.
But Isaac didn’t have any intention of pushing to fail Colton; he knew if the guy appealed it with the academic panel, they’d question the lower curve Isaac had thrown on his scores. Isaac didn’t need to lose his TA position or any of his grant money for misconduct, but he deserved to get a bit of revenge, all things considered.
Since drowning out Colton seemed utterly impossible, Isaac decided to take a look at the jock’s final essay. Hope that he’d turn in something dreadful quickly washed away when he spotted how clean and composed the introduction paragraph was written.
“Impossible,” Isaac muttered, biting his pen and retrieving his laptop.
No way, absolutely no way possible, could Colton write such a well-crafted essay. It had to be plagiarized. He went to Howard’s digital classroom and grabbed Colton’s emailed essay to run through a plagiarism checker all the professors utilized.
Nothing. Not a goddamn thing aside from the standard ten percent of quoted materials, which didn’t count since Colton had cited them all correctly. Well, all except for two. They were even in a different font from the others.
It was like Colton had grabbed a good essay and added a few last-minute touches to prove he used relevant on-campus sources in his evidence. The other sources seemed dated yet familiar.
“Reflecting on last year, how do you feel being out now versus when your story first broke?” a GSA member asked. “Obviously, the choice was taken from you, but now that you have time to reflect on it, do you feel better being yourself?”
“Whoa, that’s a hard one.” Colton braced against the podium like he might end up swept away by a tornado. “That’s what she said.”
The silly joke brought cheap laughs and gave Colton a minute to compose his response.
“Being outed is definitely not the way I wanted to come out, but then again, I never really planned on coming out,” Colton explained, a sad half smile on his face while he pondered his nextwords. “It forced me to really reflect on the type of person I was before being honest with myself and the world. I look back on the jerk I was and cringe.”
Colton paused at that, a playful expression to show how much he hated looking back at his brutish former self. Isaac hated who Colton used to be, too. Hated him with a passion.
“But every misstep got me to this point, and my hope is now that I’m here and queer,” Colton said with a laugh that brought out more laughter from the audience. “My hope is that I can start taking the right steps, that I can continue growing and help others grow into themselves whenever they’re ready.”
