The first day of senior year. Aiden took a deep breath and closed his locker. Grades weren’t too much of a worry. Unless he suddenly started failing everything, he would easily get enough credits to pass. Even Major Magical Control didn’t seem so daunting this year, although he might change his mind depending on how the first few weeks of class went. He was now in the master class, the most challenging level taught at school.
Okay, maybe I’m a little nervous about it.
Aiden pulled out his class list, checking his homeroom number yet again. As he looked up, he froze.
A few feet away, two girls leaned against the lockers. Kissing each other. Right there in front of everyone.
Aiden’s mouth dropped open.
One of the girls pulled away, her smile dropping as she spotted him. She had long black hair that reached the middle of her back. “Don’t like it? Too bad.”
The other girl’s jaw tightened. She had hair that only came down to her chin, but she’d still managed to dye it three different colors.
Aiden realized what he must look like, staring at them like that. “I-I didn’t…”
But they were already walking away, hand in hand. The girl with long black hair turned to glare at him before they disappeared into the crowd.
Neither of them was familiar, which meant they were probably freshmen. Two girls younger than him, brave enough to kiss in the middle of school. And there he was, almost an adult, a town hero, and too afraid to admit he was in love with a boy.
I really am a huge coward.
While he walked to homeroom, he kept talking himself into coming out and then talking himself out of it again. This year homeroom was Advanced Spellcraft, and Maggie waved to him as soon as he walked through the door. They already knew they had class together. Last week there’d been a lot of texting back and forth when everyone got their class lists.
“Something wrong?” Maggie asked as Aiden slipped into the seat next to her.
He glanced around. There weren’t many other kids in the room yet. Leaning close, he whispered, “I saw two girls kissing in the hall. Like, if they can do it, why… Why can’t I?” She was the only one besides Dylan who knew Aiden was dating Tiago.
Maggie patted his shoulder. “Everyone is different. You have to do what’s right for you.”
Was hiding his relationship what was right for him? The thing he’d worried about most—Dylan finding out—had already happened. There were still his parents to think about, which bothered him more than kids at school knowing. They wouldn’t disown him or anything like that—finding out your kid was queer had to be nothing compared to finding out he wasn’t human, wasn’t even really yours. So why did the idea of telling them make his anxiety spike?
And what about Tiago? Was hiding the right thing for him? Tiago had told the whole school he used to kill and eat people. Yet he was hiding that he was gay for Aiden’s sake, to make sure no one would suspect anything.
“Have you talked to the counselor about it?” Maggie asked.
“No. God, no.”
She gave him a look. “You know that’s what they’re for, right? To help you work through this kinda stuff?”
Aiden rubbed his finger along a burn mark on the table. “I guess I should probably bring it up.” Mr. Emery, the school counselor, was supposed to keep everything private, and over the years Aiden had been seeing him, there’d been no indication he’d ever broken that trust.
Maggie squeezed his arm. “Whatever you decide, I’ll support you. I haven’t said anything to anyone, not even my best friends, and I won’t unless you tell me it’s okay.”
“Thanks, Maggie.” She’d been a good friend to him since the first day he came to Shadow Valley High.
“But if it’s bothering you this much, I think you should”—she glanced around at the filling classroom—“be honest.”
It would be nice to have it out in the open and have one less secret to carry. But once he admitted it, there would be no going back.
* * *
Just after the last bell rang, Aiden’s phone buzzed with an incoming text. His pulse sped up when he saw it was from Mr. Johnson. Aiden and Dylan, meet me at the gravel pit at 3:30.
Oh God, what now? It was only the first day of school. Were the extremists back? Had they attacked? Was someone dead?
But if it was urgent, wouldn’t he have called to talk to them right away?
Aiden sat there, waiting to see if another text came in. The class was empty by the time he got up, and just as he reached the door, his phone buzzed again.
WHAT IS IT?
It took Aiden a second to realize it was a reply from Dylan. It surprised a laugh out of him. Dylan’s anger could come through even in text.
Dylan was waiting with Tiago when Aiden got to his locker. “Did you see?” Dylan asked.
“Yeah.”
Dylan’s phone dinged and he scowled at it. “Please just meet me there. Thank you,” he read.
“Do you think it’s something bad?” Tiago asked, hovering near Aiden like he wanted to touch him.
“Guess we’ll find out,” Dylan said.