Tale
760 Words
Hakim's POV
I was able to recognize Dante even before I could recognize my own mother. That was how attached we were as babies, and substantially grew up, bonded together as children. He was always this tiny looking human being that was always frail and fragile, looking like something that could be snapped into two. But the more frail and fragile he looked, the more I felt the burning need to protect him, to shield him.
I remember when we were still in kindergarten. Mom had dropped me off at his place to go get some groceries and stuff. He was intensely watching SpongeBob SquarePants, his whole being engrossed in the television. His mom came out of the kitchen and did some ranting about him being addicted to SpongeBob before taking the remote control and turning it off, making him to start crying. His cries almost made me go crazy, and as little as I was, maybe at five or six years old, I waged war against his mother, following her to the kitchen and beating her legs with my little hands while screaming “ tur e on”. She was amused by the whole skit and later turned the television back on.
“ Your little man almost killed me because I made his boyfriend cry”, she said to my mom when she came to pick me up. I didn't understand the meaning of boyfriend then, but I knew what friend meant, and I was happy that she called Dante my boyfriend.
I always looked forward to seeing him. Whenever he laughed; let's say when I pull a prank on him, or when I made a face at him, or when he will try to scare me and have me scream, I always felt fulfilled, as if my shitty life was somehow instantly made normal. He was the only person who's smile could make me happy.
Then everything changed when we got into sophomore year. His presence started to bug me; or at least that was what I was made to think.
His presence started to bug Hunter and Hazel. It was never really me that was bothered, it was them.
I met them when I joined the football team, and due to secular similarities, we instantly became close friends. They were hot, cool, almost famous guys who played quarterback, and I suited the criteria for people that were on the same league with them. The people that were always invited to parties and had hot, popular cheerleaders as girlfriends.
I guess my popularity grew when I started dating the cheer queen. Bianca or something, I can't quite recall her name. But me dating her was like opening the door to the perfect social life that I wanted, filled with cool friends and lingering girls, and all was perfect; all except for one thing: Dante.
We stopped talking. I couldn't tell why, but we just gradually stopped. We still sat together in class, but that was all. I was always at football practice or at a party or basically just spending time with the guys, and he didn't fit in. He didn't even try to fit in.
“ Why is that guy always around you”, Hunter had asked me one day.
“ What guy?” I asked.
“ That scrawny thing called Dante”, he said.
“ What do you mean he's always around me? We just sit together in class, that's all”, I said, sensing the extraordinary hate he had for Dante.
“ Is he gay or something? Because I could swear that the dude looks at you as if he wants to kiss you”, Hazel chipped in.
“ Don't be an asshole, he's alright”, I said, trying to defend him with the wrong words, using ‘ he's alright’ as if the fact that he was gay made him ‘ not alright’.
“ He behaves like a faggot, and I've even heard rumors, and one of them is that he wants you”, that was Hunter, the hate was still noticable in his voice.
“ Oh please, don't be silly, that can never be true”, I said, my heart beating vigorously against my chest. I wasn't sure if he saw me that way, but I was sure that it was I who wanted him, it was I who wanted to kiss him.
“ You're defending him bro”, Hunter said, with a disgusted amusement in his eyes.
“ No I'm not”.
- Writer
