Chapter 6

Kiefer felt his blood boil as he watched Noah kiss Helios' neck while he was unconscious. He rushed to Noah with his fist ready to hit. With one blow, Noah was already on the ground. Kiefer quickly picked up Helios. In a glimpse, Helios' eyes slowly opened and uttered, "Brother?..."

Kiefer carried him to his motorcycle.

"Helios, can you move on your own?" Helios just nod his head, so Kiefer put him down. Kiefer took the helmet and put it on his head. Helios rode the motorcycle right after his brother did. "Hold on tight. I don't want you falling." They both drove off as Noah watch from the alley.

Andrew sat with silence in the room, his foot kept tapping on the floor, attentively waiting for any update about Helios.

The sound of knocks on the door echoed in the room, causing Andrew to make his way to the door. There, he saw Kiefer helping Helios to stand up by holding his waist. "I could stand on my own, Kiefer."

Kiefer let go of Helios, "What happened to you, Helios?" asked Andrew.

"I don't want to talk about it." Helios walked inside with his arms crossed as Kiefer followed behind him. "Go get ice for Helios' bruise." Kiefer told Andrew as he closed the door. He and Helios went to Helios' bed.

"Helios, I'm sorry. I should have just went there my self. This is all my fault."

"I know that."

Kiefer rested his head on Helios's shoulder, "I'm sorry."

Andrew came back carrying a cloth with ice inside. "Put this on your bruise." Andrew gave the cloth to Helios. Kiefer stood up and said, "I'll go now. Don't go to school if you still don't feel good tomorrow, Helios. I'll talk to your teacher."

"Okay, I will." Kiefer took his helmet and went out.

"Are you feeling better, Helios?" Andrew asked as he wrap one of his hands on his shoulders. "I am." Helios moved away from Andrew. He went under his blankets just wanting to be left alone. Andrew patted his head before saying goodnight to Helios. He turned off the lights before he also went to sleep.

As expected Helios did not go to school the next day, but rumors about his sexuality spread like wildfire. A lot of students were talking bad about him;

"That's why he keeps ignoring me. I almost thought I was the problem."

"I feel so disgusted." Two girls continued to whisper to each other as they walk to the hallways;

"Fuck, I just realized that he kept walking on the hallway passing our classroom. His probably checking out one of us; disgusting."

"Isn't Elixir always with him? I bet they're fucking." Elixir walked by them not even noticing that they are talking about him. The guys laugh at them selves as they eyeball him.

Elixir looked for Helios every where, [ Where is he?]

Elixir went to his senior's classroom to check if Helios was there. "Elixir! What are you doing here?" Olivia asked and went to Elixir, "Are you looking for Helios?"

"Yeah, I haven't seen him anywhere."

"OMG! By the way, have you heard the 'things' already? Don't tell me you haven't."

"What 'things'?"

"You know, the rumors." Olivia pulled Elixir to a corner,

"Someone outed him, I'm pretty sure the one who started the rumors is not from the band, they would never do such thing." Olivia whispered to Elixir as he struggled to bend down to her height trying to hear her.

"But there's no one else who knows about it right?" Elixir straighten his back, he tried to make his back crack.

"To be honest, I'm not sure if anybody else knows." Olivia answered him.

"Oh, and if you want to visit him just go ask Aron Helios' room number. He's the only one who knows."

"Oh, thank you."

Olivia wave goodbye to Elixir, [Aron and senior seem so close.] Elixir went to the cafeteria by himself, [Has Alex eaten yet?] Elixir took out his phone to call Alexandra.

"Hey, have you eaten yet?"

"I'm eating with Jaden. Wait, I can see you." Elixir looked around the cafeteria and saw Alexandra with her hand in the air. He joined them to the table, "Have you heard the rumors about senior?" Alexandra asked Elixir, "Yeah, Olivia told me about it."

"It might be hard for him. Alot of it seem fake too." Jaden added.

"Like what?" Elixir looked at Jaden curiously.

"I've heard about people talking about him liking another senior."

"Who?" Elixir moved his head closer to Jaden.

"Senior Aron."

"There's no way, they are just close!" Elixir move away from Jaden and rested his back on the table.

"I kinda think that he likes Aron." Alexandra said while chewing her food.

"I'll go buy myself some food."

"Quickly, lunch is going end in a couple of minutes." Jade told Elixir.

"I feel bad for senior." JB rested his head on his palm.

"We should go and buy him some snacks to cheer him up after class." he suggested to Drake.

"Do you even know where his room is?"

"I think I do. When I went to one of my friend's room, I saw him going to a room."

Jaden kept looking at his phone with a frown on his face. Kali haven't been replying to his messages. [Is she busy? She hasn't been online in a while.]

"What ya looking there?" Alexandra looked from Jaden's side,

"OHHHH, you're chatting with a girl!" She laughed hysterically as she watched Jaden's face turn as red as a tomato. "Mind your own business, asshole."

"You like her! Don't you?"

"No! I do not!"

"You do!" Just when Alex almost fell of the chair from laughing too much Elixir caught her.

"Elixir, did you know-"

"Yeah. Jaden have been crushing on someone. I can hear you from across the room." Elixir cut her off. Elixir placed his food on the table besides her.

"Who do you think is she? Hey, Jaden, which school is she from?"

"I told you, I haven't met her yet." Jaden rolled his eyes at her.

"Fine, I'll stop teasing you! Don't be mad." Alexandra continued to eat her food while you can still hear her giggling to herself.

Helios sat in front of his table; his pencil kept tapping on the table as he bit his lower lip. He was writing song again to pass some time. He just kept writing and writing. Besides he doesn't have anything else to do.

The door opening caught Helios' attention. He looked at Andrew who is now closing the door. "I got you some Lunch." Andrew placed the plastic full tupperwares containing food on their table. "I have some bad news. Don't get nervous, okay?"

"What is it?"

"There are some certain rumors going around school right now..." Helios dropped his pencil and looked at Andrew. "What rumors?" Andrew felt the panic on his voice; he started to hesitate if he should tell him what is happening at their school. "Andrew, what IS IT?"

"They know that you are gay." Andrew rushed to say all of that, scared of Helios' reaction.

"What?"

"I already said it." Andrew looked away. Helios stood up from the chair and went to Andrew with his eyebrows moving towards each other. "What am I suppose to do now, Andrew?" Helios asked him.

"Don't worry, Helios. I'm sure it won't be the same as before."

Tears are slowly forming in Helios' eyes. Andrew rub Helios' right shoulder to comfort him.

Brandon passed a note to Kael while their teacher was writing something on the black board. "What are you doing? The teacher will catch us!" Kael whispered to him. "Just take it, Kael!" Brandon whispered back.

Kael pulled the paper from his hands and read it. "Why are you not answering my messages?"

"My sister confiscated my phone." He wrote back.

Kael passed it back to Brandon, just then their teacher looked back at the class. Brandon quickly pulled back his hand with the paper on his desk. So did Kael. Luckily, the teacher did not notice them.

"Is it because of your grades?" Brandon wrote after reading the note.

Kael took back the notes and wrote, "Yeah. So, let me focus."

After Kael passed the note to Brandon, he just looked at Kael and left him alone.

The bell rang; the students got up with relief that their class is finally over. Elixir is one of them. Elixir took all his things and rush to the senior's classroom hoping to catch up with Aron.

Aron was still at their classroom when Elixir arrived. "Hey, Aron, do you know senior's room number?" Elixir asked him.

"You mean Helios?"

"Yeah."

"It's room 302."

"Are you not going to visit him, Aron?"

"Nah, too busy. Just tell him I said hi, and I'll come visit him next time."

"Sure."

Elixir said goodbye to his seniors before leaving school. As Elixir was walking to the dorms, he remembered that Helios likes meat buns. He went to the store that he and Helios went to before and bought some to give Helios. Elixir happily walked to the dorm with a paper bag full of meat buns on his hands.

Elixir entered the dorms, and he carefully looked at the room numbers, scared of missing Helios' room. Eventually he reached the door with the number 302 on it. Elixir knocked on the door and patiently wait for the door to open. After a couple of seconds, the door opened.

"Hi, I'm Elixir. I am here to visit Helios."

"What's your relationship with him?" Andrew asked.

"He is my senior, and I'm part of our band." Andrew moved away from the entrance to let Elixir in. "He is in the room right now."

"Thanks." Elixir went straight to Helios's room.

"Hey, senior, are you sick? Why did you not go to school earlier?"

"What are you doing here?" Helios was surprised by Elixir's sudden visit.

"I'm worried about you, senior. I also got some meat buns for you." Elixir handed the paper bag to Helios. "Umm senior... have you heard about the rumors?"

"Yeah, someone told me about that already." Helios didn't look at Elixir, he was just focused on the meat buns that he is eating. Elixir couldn't picture nor see Helios' face because of the dim light, which made Elixir so curious about Helios' current expression.

Elixir went closer to Helios' face without him even realizing what he is doing.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" With no surprise, Elixir discovered that the expression on Helios' face is a frown.

Elixir moved away and awkwardly laughed. Elixir went and switched the lights on. "Oh yeah, senior. Aron said hello and maybe he will come visit you sometime." Elixir looked back at Helios with a smile on his face that also quickly disappeared. And all the rumors and what Alexandra said about Helios having feelings for Aron went to his mind.

The door opened, revealing JB and Drake. They also got snacks to cheer up Helios. All four of them stayed there in the room for hours till the three were forced to go back to their own room and houses 'cause of closing time.

Elixir walked to his own dorm room. As soon as he entered the room, he can already feel that Jaden is having a hard time.

"Lose streak?" Elixir asked him.

"Elixir, you chatted with a lot of girls, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"What does it mean when they suddenly stop answering you?" Elixir choked on his saliva.

"Umm, sorry, man. She ghosted you." Elixir went and patted Jaden's back. He was still looking at his phone at that time.

On the other hand, Kael was really working hard trying to catch up to his studies and deadlines.

[I really miss Jaden.]

He thought to himself. It was his motivation to work faster and harder to get his phone as soon as possible, but of course his readers are also his motivation to work harder. As Kael was writing, he suddenly remembered his old phone. Kael quickly finished his homework to look for his old phone. He looked everywhere. From his desk to his cabinet; it's nowhere to be found.

Kael is starting to feel frustrated. He kept pushing his hair back even though it is not on his face. He looked under his bed and there, an old shoebox is hidden in the farthest corner. Kael's eyes lit up as he remembered where he hid his old phone, thinking it won't be needed anymore. Kael wiped the dust on top of the box after almost breaking his hand trying to get the shoe box. In the box was an old Zamxung phone, with the camera still of a really low quality.

[I can probably use this.]

He went to his bed to cover himself with a blanket. Kael started to feel lucky when the phone opened without it asking for a password. However, its battery is really low. He pulled the charger as fast as he can but he still missed the charger port, which caused the phone to die.

[Damn it.]

He left the phone alone to charge and was praying to God if he could please wake him up early tomorrow so that he can hide the phone from his sister as he gets ready to sleep.

Kael woke up at around five. Just as he opened his eyes, he took the phone and opened it. He downloaded the line as soon as he possibly could. He watched till the circle was fully colored green. After that, he logged in. The first person that he chatted with was, as one would expect, Jaden. He was surprised to see him online.

"Hey." Kael texted him.

A smile formed on his face when a message popped on his screen. "Hi. Why weren't you *OL yesterday?"

"Got busy. Lol. Might still be later."

"Oh, when are you going to be free?"

"Not sure. I'll just text you when I can."

Kael heard the door open. He quickly hid the phone under his pillow and pretended to sleep. "Why are you still asleep, Kael? Get up and get ready."

"Yeah. I will." He pretended to groan in annoyance as he secretly prayed that Kali would just leave.

Helios finally decided to go to school. Andrew was just asking him if he was sure and if he can take it all morning while they both got ready. Helios was rolling his eyes every time Andrew start to open his mouth. "I told you, I can take it. What happened before won't happen this time."

"I'm just worried, Helios."

"I'm not eleven anymore, and I'm used to it by now."

"Fine, but if you get uncomfortable just tell me."

The school door opened and all pairs of eyes in the school just looked over, it was Helios. Whispers quickly spread like wildfire as soon as he stepped in. Helios just looked straight ahead, trying not to look at any of them. He tried to just keep his distance from any guy to prevent them from getting teased and other people to get some stepping stone for another story of theirs.

It was surprisingly easy. Andrew did not come close to him after Helios asked him to keep his distance before going to school. Aron was busy, as usual. Second years were also busy doing their own things. And Elixir did not find or look for him at break and lunch, which quite shocked and disappointed him a bit. But nonetheless made life easier for him.

Elixir just spent most of his time with some of his classmates, thinking that his Senior, Helios, won't possibly come to school after knowing what is currently happening. He didn't even go to Helios' classroom to look for him.

Elixir and the girls were flirting back and forth as they eat their lunch.

"Elixir, you are part of the school band. Right?" One girl asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Elixir smiled at the girl.

"Aren't 'that' guy also a part of the school band?" another girl whispered to the other girls while covering the side of her lips so others won't read it.

"Yeah. He is." The other girl confirmed. She looked at Elixir and told him with a worried tone, "You should be careful Elixir."

Elixir just looked at her blankly.

Helios entered the cafeteria. The first person that caught his eye was Elixir.

[I thought he was not at school. So, he really is just avoiding me.]

While Helios was walking past them, he overheard their conversation.

['That' person. Me?]

"You should be careful, Elixir."

[Or what? He'll catch the 'gay'?] Helios sat on the empty table near them. Their table got quiet for a while after what the girl said.

"What do you mean by that?" Elixir asked.

Helios started to eat slowly to listen to the drama unfolds clearer.

"Oh, it's you know. Because he might-"

"Might what?"

The third girl had a hard time trying to explain what she said. Elixir watched her look down shyly till her ear turn red.

"I don't need to be careful. Senior is a nice guy. What even is so wrong with being gay? He just likes the same gender." Elixir told the girl while he gave her more pork, and smiled brightly at her.

Helios was expecting Elixir to actually agree with them. Helios hurriedly ate his food as soon as he felt eyes staring at him. He was briskly walking past Elixir's table, but he was too late. Elixir already recognized him.

"Senior!"

Elixir went to him. "I didn't know that you were at school." His smile was so much brighter than earlier.

"What do you want, Elixir?"

"You should have told me you would come to school, senior. We could have eaten together. I was so lonely." Elixir started to follow Helios around like he was a lost puppy.

"Can you leave me alone and go back to your class." Helios looked so tired from Elixir's energy. Just then the bell rang.

"Oh, seems like I need to go." Elixir pouted, and he dragged his feet to his next class.

"Hey, Elixir." Elixir looked back at Helios.

"Let's go somewhere after band practice."