Because You Suck: Chapter 13: Part 8

Note: Yes, I know, things seem nasty. But there's a point to this, and it's coming up very soon. I promise ^_~

The silence settled again. A dividing force that pulled them apart; a force which let the heat of their union in love and in battle sear their memories. The first shots were fired, and now it was time to reload. Rethink. Restratagize. At times he wondered what the point of this was, when nothing could be won or changed. No one would or could emerge vicotorious, yet despite this revelation, he raised his head up and ears open when Gentry started to speak.
“If I won’t become Valedictorian, Mikey will. He’ll accept the position in exchange for staying quiet. Then, he’ll write about gay discrimination and overcoming adversity in his college application. You probably figured it already--- he’s going to whine about his black eye for the next fifty years.”
“---He’s not going to whine.” Zach replied defensively, “But even if he does, he has every right to. There is a lot of homophobia here, at least he isn’t promoting it. And, also, unlike you, he isn’t a bully.”
He finished flushed in the face, seething with irritation as Gentry let himself fall against the wall and into his view. Clear blue met murky amber, those dark holes that could so easily pull in their subject. Bend time and space with a blink.
“Fine, I’m a bully. Is that all that’s wrong with me?”
The tension balled up in his shoulders first. His dry lips were pasted together, tasting of dried blood and weak salt. Where there would have been tension there was now uneasy awkwardness. Discomfort so thick a knife could hardly cut through it. Yet he just kept rubbing against the blades, enjoying every minute; watching and waiting for--- daring--- a reply. And when it came it shot out aimlessly:
“Everything’s wrong with you.”
It had been dropped like so many other blunt truths, yet one look at Gentry’s face made him avert his eyes. This was not brutal honesty--- it was simply brutal. A cheap shot that preyed on a weakness he’d already known was there. Zach’s heart panged regret inside him, as he looked away and Gentry murmured,
“I’m not a homophobe, Zach. We both know that.”
“No, you’re not. You’re everything and nothing at the same time.”