Alexis Season

Alex and Matthew both discovered quite quickly that somehow word had spread, and before they even had a date everyone knew that they were an item. But, to Matthew's astonishment, everyone supported him, in public and in private. The bullies didn't go after him, and no one called him gay. Someone once mentioned that he was "taking one for the team," but no one laughed. The student body was ok with it.

Someone else wasn't. Mrs. Roberts, the history teacher, heard the whispers, and felt the need to tell the principal, who felt the need to call Alex's and Matthew's parents. Alex's parents were thrilled that Alex was going to have a normal relationship.

Matthew's father was not so understanding. Matthew's father beat him to a bloody pulp, told him he was a good-for-nothing faggot, and was summarily arrested for abusing his son.

Alex cried when she heard what had happened to him. She thought it was all her fault. She visited him once in the hospital, but he was bandaged and bloody and sleeping. She cried then, too, and couldn't bear to see him again like that.

Matthew was in the hospital for a month, and was much worse for the wear after he got back. The loss of his father was the worst he suffered, but his new fear compelled him to break up with Alex. They had never had a single date.

Students heard what had happened to Matthew, and many of them didn't blame him for splitting up with Alex. Some boys even began to be scared of their own parents, in place of the guilt they felt for secretly liking Alex.

A boy named John Woods was a bit braver than most students. He was one of many that found Alex attractive, so one day he went to his parents and asked point blank what they would do if he started seeing Alex as a girlfriend. His parents already knew about her, of course, and about what had happened to Matthew. But his parents did not get angry, and after the initial shock of the question, replied as calmly as they could that they would allow it, as long as John knew what he was doing.