Chapter Four

ACE

I was running down the halls going to my next class period. I was seconds away from being late and was going to get yelled at, not only by the teacher but by my parents too if they found out. I turned into the hallway of my destination when I ran into a chest, a soft and squishy chest.

Eww! I ran into a girl!! I thought as I backed away and made a face that said 'ew I can't believe I touched those.'

"Ace, you silly! You need to watch where you are going! You are so lucky it was just me babes." I looked up slightly to see it was Isabella that I ran into. She wasn't my best friend but I liked to think that we were pretty close.

"Hey Izzy, sorry about that. I was on my way to class." I said I looked behind her and saw that the teacher of my next class was about to close the door. "Shit sorry I gotta go!" I ran past her and just barely made it to the door.

When that class was over, Izzy was standing at the door waiting for me. "Hey babe, ready for lunch?" she asked. I nodded and she linked our arms together and started leading us to the cafeteria.

We went through the food line together, her getting the hot lunch of chicken and noodles and me getting the free and reduced lunch of a PBJ. My parents never gave me lunch money or paid the school for it. The school had to feed me so I was limited to a simple PBJ and milk.

We sat at our own table which consisted of me, Izzy, and Naeve. When we sat down, Naeve was already there. "Guys! Did you see the new teacher?!" I asked excitedly.

"Ace, we were in the same class. Yes, I saw him, what about him?" Naeve asked.

"I don't know, I think he's cute." I said quietly looking at my sad meal, "I-i think he wants to help with my parents." Naeve gave me a sad look and nodded.

"If he is offering, you better take it. You need to get away from those assholes." She angrily said I looked at Izzy for her opinion but she just looked upset.

"Izzy, you alright?" I asked putting my hand on her shoulder.

She looked at me and her eyes started to water, she mumbled something and ran out of the room.

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The rest of school went by in a flash, and Izzy disappeared after lunch. Government was my last class of the day and it had just ended. It was in the same room as history so I just stayed in my seat as I waited for Mr. Smith.

"I'm glad you decided to talk." He said as he walked back into the room. He smiled at me and I smiled back, looking at him made time feel like nothing. "Do you mind if I write down what we talk about today?" I nodded causing him to get out a notebook and pen.

I bounced my knee nervously as I talked about my parents. "Um, I came out as gay when I was 15. I-i had always been bullied at school so nothing changed there. But home, my safe space, changed a lot. My dad started calling me names and making me do most of the cooking and cleaning. My mom just stopped talking to me, pretended I wasn't even there." I looked down at my hands, "My dad hits me when I make mistakes."

Mr. Smith nodded and wrote down what I said. "What kind of things do they call you Ace?"

"Idiot, dumbass, faggot, stupid. Every day before school they tell me not to drool over the other guys and fail my classes. As if any of the gu- students here are worth drooling over." I blushed at my mix-up and hoped he didn't notice.

Mr. Smith got up and came to sit next to me, "Ace, what I'm about to offer you isn't exactly orthodox." He said softly, I nodded, "If I were to say that I could take you away from that, what would you say?"

"Y-you're not joking?" I asked, he shook his head slowly causing my eyes to water, "Then I would say when do I leave?"

He grinned at me, stood up, and held out his hand. "Right now if you want." I took his hand and nodded so fast I was sure my head would fall off.

He let go of my hand and led me out of the school and to his car. I told him where he could find my house and we were off.

"So you can stay with me, but I need to make a few ground rules." He said, driving with one hand, his other was resting on the center consol. "The school can't know that we are living together, it could get messy. So to hide it we can either wait to leave until most of the office staff is gone or we can meet somewhere off school grounds to head home together. The choice is yours."

"Let's meet up, there's a library about two blocks away from school, we can meet there. You can drop me off there in the mornings too, I'm used to walking so it won't bother me." I said looking sadly at the house that used to be my home. "So, my parents were expecting me back an hour ago so you might want to stay here while I get the stuff."

"You're crazy if you think I'm letting you go in there on your own after what you told me." He said unbuckling and getting out of the car.