29Randy Marshall slammed his telephone down on the receiver with great excitement. The anticipation of what would happen tonight was killing him. He knew, that in just a couple hours, he would be coming out - and telling the entire student body at his school that he and Adam Roberts were in love.
Randy turned towards Nicole, who stood behind him, awaiting a status report on exactly what was going on later tonight.
"He still wants to do it!" Randy said, his voice almost squealing with delight.
"Great!" Nicole exclaimed.
"Are you sure you don't mind this, Nicole? I mean, I was supposed to be your partner for Family Week. Now you'll have to go up there and finish your presentation all alone." Randy remarked.
"It's okay, Randy, this is not about me, it's about you. This is your big day, and I'm not going to spoil it for you." Nicole answered him.
Randy hugged Nicole as tight as he could.
"Thanks, Nicole! You are the best friend that anybody could ever have!" Randy said.
"No problem!" Nicole said with reassurance.
As Randy left his room and waited for his mom to get the car going, his thoughts began to run rampant through his brain.
Oh god, it's almost time. I hope I can really do this. What if I can't? What if when I get up there, I just become so afraid that I actually become paralyzed right there on the spot, not being able to breathe or talk or anything - frozen in my fear.
Wait, why am I thinking of only myself here? Adam must be thinking the same things that I am. He must be just as scared as me, just as worried about the reaction we will get from the audience. The whole school. The WHOLE school will be in that auditorium. Just calm yourself down, Randy. If you can't do it alone, big deal. You'll have Adam there with you. You guys love each other, and you can make it through this - together.
Randy's racing thoughts where abruptly halted when a hand on his shoulder made him jump.
"Ready to go, hun?" His mother asked.
"Yeah.." Randy answered. "NICOLE! We're leaving now!" He hollered up to her, waiting for her to come out of the bathroom.
Nicole came bustling through the bathroom door, standing side by side with Adam.
"It'll be okay!" She whispered to him quietly as they began to walk out towards the car.
Adam Roberts was so nervous, he was driving like a bat out of hell. Sherri sat behind him, in the backseat of the vehicle. He had refused to let her sit with him in the front; he didn't want to deal with the multitude of pickup lines and sexual advances that would have been through at him if he had.
He was so shocked that his mother let him drive on his own, especially after his accident. But he had told her that he needed to discuss something with Sherri that he wanted to remain private until he was ready to tell her.
So, here he was, driving, with Sherri in the back of the car.
"Sherri-" Adam started, but he didn't know how to finish.
"What?" She asked.
"I- I'm not going up on stage with you tonight for Family Week." He told her.
"What?! But I don't want to do it on my own! I can't do it on my own!" Sherri screamed, becoming irate.
"Why not? I've been doing everything on my own since Family Week started. All you have done at all is hit on me all week." Adam told her.
Sherri scoffed.
"Fine then, pull over and let me out! I said I wouldn't, no I COULDN'T do this on my own and I'm not going to!" She screeched.
"Whatever suits you." Adam said, pulling over for a moment. Sherri gathered up all of her stuff and pushed the door open, got out, and then slammed it shut. She began yelling something at Adam, but he didn't stick around to see what it was. He sped off, heading towards the school.
Adam could just see his mother's reaction if she had known what he had done to Sherri.
"You left that nice, sweet girl alone all by herself on the side of the road?! How could you?" His mother would say.
Ha. Nice, sweet girl my ass. None of the adults around here knew what she was really like. They all thought she was the perfect angel. Now she's getting hers, Adam thought.
Finally, he pulled into the driveway of the school. Nervousness overtook him as he parked it, stepped out, and walked into the school. The jam- packed auditorium was filled with the many voices of teenagers. Adam began to sweat horribly. He darted his eyes around, pushing his way through the mass crowds of people until he saw Randy.
Randy looked and saw his boyfriend Adam walking towards him, but having to get through a few clusters of people before actually getting to him.
"Are you ready?" Adam asked.
"As ready as I will ever be." Randy answered, sweat pouring from his forehead.
All throughout the night, Randy watched and watched as countless pairs of men and women made their presentations. Adam had already informed school officials that Sherri would not be showing up, thus he was supposed to do the presentation on his own. Little did they know, he really did have a partner.
Adam's heart jumped when he was called up to the stage by his principal's booming voice over the sound system. He signaled to Randy to stay down on the floor until he called him up to the stage, and stepped forward. Adam reached the stage and took the microphone.
"Hello everyone. Unfortunately, my original partner Sherri Reynolds was unable to be here tonight. But, I would like to introduce you to my new partner"-
Adam turned and signaled for Randy to start heading to the stage.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, my new partner, Randy Marshall!"
Randy then came into view on the stage as he stepped through the back curtains. Adam looked at the many faces in the audience. All of them were quite baffled - they hadn't realized exactly what was going on just yet. Randy took the microphone from Adam in one hand, and grabbed Adam's hand with his other. He began to speak.
"We are here tonight - excuse me, together tonight - to tell you that there is a reason Sherri never showed up, and my former partner Nicole did her presentation alone. That's because Adam and I have decided to be together for Family Week. Why? Because we love each other. We really, truly love each other. That's right, we are gay. But does that mean we should be treated differently? No. Not at all. All it means is that we happened to be attracted to the same sex. Family Week has just taken a turn - a turn for the better. There is nothing wrong with us loving each other."
Randy then dropped the microphone on the stage, emitting a shrill noise through the sound system's speakers. He turned toward his boyfriend, Adam, and leaned in. At the same time, Adam leaned in towards Randy - until their lips finally met. Randy felt electricity jolting through his body and lost himself in the hypnotic feeling. He let Adam's tongue enter his mouth, and reciprocated the action. The two remained kissing, letting their tongues explore each other's mouths for several minutes before finally breaking the embrace.
The audience gasped. Out of disapproval or shock, Randy wasn't sure.
The sound of gasping was dreadful to Randy - until he heard someone begin clapping. He looked out into the audience and saw that it was Nicole showing her support for the two boys in love.
Nicole's claps were followed by more. And more. And even more.
In a moment, the audience has gone from gasping, which must have just been the shock of it all, to clapping. After a few more moments, the auditorium was booming in decibel levels simply from the clapping of hundreds of hands.
A tear found its way out of Randy's eye and began falling down his cheek. Streams and streams of more tears followed that single tear, as Randy smiled uncontrollably and embraced Adam once more, this time with all the energy of the audience running through him.
~THE END~