Drama (And some acting, too)

Sorry it's taken so long to get this last one up. I've been working on some really tough motion graphics projects so I haven't had much time. But here's this next one, things are twisting up! I promise there will be some action sometime. But strap in for a long ride. I have a feeling it's gonna take a while. Thanks to Koira and Cat for staying updated! Tell me what you think.

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Sarah was looking really weird again today, Ryan decided. Crap, I thought she was starting to feel better. Gah, he thought. They were at lunch again, and the silence stretched before them once again, swallowing up everything else around them. This time, however, Sarah was not staring defiantly off into the distance. Today, she was looking down at her tray of untouched food, concentrating hard. Ryan might have made a joke about this if she had had orange juice. But she didn’t.

Instead, he made himself busy drawing circles on the table with condensation from his glass. He glanced over at her, and then looked back at the circles.

“Ryan…” Sarah began.

He looked up at her. Her eyes were lined with worry. “Yeah? What’s wrong?”

“Um… I think… I think I did something bad.”

“Okay? Uh… what did you do?”

She started to poke nervously at her green beans with her plastic fork. “I’m really really really sorry,” the words poured out in a rush, “but Finn came up to me today and he asked me if he should break up with his girlfriend, and I was like, ‘Why?’ and he said that he was having feelings for someone else. And I asked who, and he said… ugh. Please don’t be upset, ok?”

Ryan looked at her blankly, and then said, “Okay…”

“Okay. So… it was me. I was so weirded out and freaked out and stuff and I wasn’t even paying attention and I just kind of blurted it out, I’m reallyreallyreally sorry.”

“Um,” Ryan said.

They looked at each other for a moment, and then Ryan said, “Sarah… what did you tell him?”

“I don’t even remember what I said. I think it was something like, ‘But Ryan would be really upset,’ I think. And I was totally just mumbling it to myself but I think he heard me. I’m so sorry,” she trailed off, seeing his facial expression change.

“Oh, God, Sarah. Crap. Oh, God,” Ryan started pulling his hands through his hair anxiously.

“I know, I know, I’m so sorry… do you want me to talk to him? Maybe I can convince him that I meant something else.”

“I don’t know, Sarah. I… just… I don’t know.”

And then the bell rang, and Ryan realized that he would have next period with Finn, and his heart sank into his stomach as he walked away.

Be a ninja, Ryan thought. A secret agent spy ninja. Or something equally as sneaky. Of course, in his outward attempts to look inconspicuous as he entered the dance classroom, he ended up not noticing a bunch in the welcome mat and tripping rather splendidly. He caught himself before he hit the ground, straightened up immediately, and pretended nothing happened. But then he moped the rest of the way to the dressing room.

Fortunately, Finn wasn’t there yet, so Ryan dressed quickly and hurried to a secluded corner of the dance floor to begin stretching. Despite his best efforts to blend in, he and Finn were the only two guys in the class, and it was fairly easy (especially on Tuesdays, which were ballet days) to spot Ryan’s black pants and shirt amongst the pink tights and leotards.

So, when Finn entered the classroom, flanked by a group of laughing girls, his eyes almost immediately fell on Ryan. Ryan looked away before the other boy could, but not before he got a chance to see a strange look in Finn’s eyes.

Crap, Ryan thought. Now he hates me. Or he’s just afraid that I’m gonna rape him or something. Perfect.

Thus, Ryan wasn’t surprised when Finn kept his distance for the entire class period. It was fine by Ryan. He didn’t know what he would say to Finn even if he did approach him. Yeah, Finn… I’m gay. Mhmm. Sorry that I didn’t tell you but I wanted to be able to look at you while you were changing all those years. By the way, don’t tell anyone or I’ll… be really upset.



Sarah cornered Finn before chorus, and pulled him off into a deserted side hallway.

“Um, Sarah?”

“Yeah. Shut up. Listen. What I said before, about Ryan,”

“Is he gay?” Finn asked mildly. He didn’t look disturbed or anything, and Sarah became suspicious.

“Finn, it’s none of your business. Just forget that I ever said anything.”

“Because I wouldn’t mind if he is. My older brother is bi. I have no problem with it.”

“Ok, I get it. But seriously. I never said a word. Okay? I’m serious!” She glared at him. He was laghing.

“Okay, I get it. It’s cool. But I’m just telling you I don’t care if he is.”

“Finn!”

“Okayyyy.” He smiled. “I know nothing.”

“Thank you,” Sarah said, waning a bit at his winning smile. “Come on, that’s the bell.”




Ryan was looking at the ground when they entered the chorus room. He looked half-mortified, half-furious, somehow noticing (despite his lowered gaze) that Finn and Sarah had entered the room together.

Adrian, the magical tone-deaf tenor, was missing in action for the day, so Sarah sat down next to Ryan in his seat.

“I talked to Finn,” she told him.

“Yeah?” he asked, still looking at the ground.

“Yeah. And I didn’t tell him anything else, but he said he’s totally cool about you… you know. He just kind of guessed. I’m so sorry. But he promised he wouldn’t say anything. Okay? I’m really sorry Ryan. But I think it’s all going to be alright now.”

Ryan closed his eyes and exhaled. “Thanks,” he said.

And she got up and walked back to the soprano section.




That night, at home, Ryan was having a terrible mental argument. Okay, secret’s out. The jig is up. He knows. God, he knows. But he’s okay with it. He actually smiled at me after class. Yeah, he smiled… but it could have been a pity smile. Or an ‘I know your secret’ smile… or just a friendly, ‘I don’t mind’ smile. Anyway. It doesn’t matter what type of smile it is. If Sarah couldn’t keep my secret, there’s no way Finn will be able to. I’ll have to tell mom and dad eventually. Oh God. Ty. What will Ty think? He makes fun of me about being girly now… Ugh. This is not going to be fun. I have to do it though. I have to be the one to tell them.



He got up, crossed his bedroom, looked in the mirror. Fixed his hair. Took a deep breath. Took another deep breath. Pulled at his shirt. And opened the door.

“Hey, mom?” He asked, lingering in her doorway.

She was sitting up in bed, reading. Fortunately, Ryan’s dad was still downstairs watching a boxing match on television.

“Yep,” she said absentmindedly, finishing the sentence she was on and bookmarking the page.

Ryan went to sit at the foot of her bed. “Can we talk?”