I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

They got in trouble often. Their teacher would scold them for talking
too much. According to Neo, the detentions were worth it. During,
they played rock paper scissors from across the room.
Neo was happy. The smile that touches his lips when he says that
makes my chest cave. But Neo’s happiness ended there.
The rowboat felt empty, he said. So he added another character to
keep the other company. The story itself was harmless enough. Just
two boys lost in the endlessness of the sea. Neo left the story on his
desk in English class by accident when packing his bag.
When he got to school the next morning, he found a group of boys
from the swim team waiting for C. They read through the papers,
passing them back and forth, spitting cracky chuckles across the
desks.
Neo stopped at the door. When they caught sight of him, he didn’t
even bother running.
They asked if he wrote the story for his boyfriend. They asked if he
did the teacher favors for the grade, that maybe that was who the
story was about.
Between each insult, they pushed Neo further and further.
The first boy tugged on his hair and ripped his papers to shreds. The
second slammed him against the lockers. He grabbed Neo’s thigh
and asked if he was into things like that. The third tugged Neo’s belt
and threatened to rape him, saying it would be charity to rid him of
his perversions. The rest laughed in a chorus.
Neo is familiar with cruelty.
His father’s cruelty is hungry. It always has been. It taught him to
dissociate from his body.
When C walked in on the scene, he had his earbuds in.