Ancient History (South Rock High, #1)

by A.J. Truman

By design. He was the reason Britney Spears invented the word toxic. He was the reason why people willingly cried along to Adele songs. Not me, of course. Not for a long time anyway.

I’m just going to get a drink of water. And put away your cell, Reyansh. Remember school policy. No cell phones in class.” I texted the group chat as soon as I left my classroom.

One of the many things I loved about history was that it was one long story. The present was confusing and made no sense. Only when we looked back did we see the narrative logic of our lives.

I think being gay had given me the superpower of compartmentalization. Instead of using it to lead a double life, I used my powers for teaching the awesomeness of history while keeping Hutch in a very small box in my head.

lmao

Everett picked me up so I wouldn’t drink and drive. Because, honey, I planned to drink.

oo period queen

Tale as old as time, right? Gay nerd falls for closeted jock. Jock wedges himself into the nerd’s heart…and other body parts. Nerd stupidly thinks that this wonderful, incredible thing they have is love. Nerd is so wrong it hurts. Cue tears.

There was inherent loneliness in being gay. You had to face the world by yourself and slowly find allies.

Hutch Hawkins broke my heart once. I wasn’t going to let him do it again.

we'll see about that...

“Although if I were to have a boyfriend, I can guarantee you, it wouldn’t be Amos.”

FRICK U HUTCH :(

Jesus assfucking Christ. Scratch that. If there really was an assfucking Jesus, then he’d understand the cringey complexity of gay relationships, and he wouldn’t have stuck me with Hutch as my cafeteria duty partner. Also, with his flowing hair, eight pack, and carpentry skills, Jesus would totally be a catch in the gay community, like an HGTV renovation show host.

fr bro

In ancient cultures, the sharing of food was symbolic of unification. And in modern times, Skittles were delicious.

Actually, they’re gross🥱

After what happened with Amos, I couldn’t bring myself to risk hurting another person. And I couldn’t risk hurting myself. I might’ve been the one who mucked things up with Amos, but my heart broke, too. I put on a smile at prom for all to see, but when I got home, I sobbed on my bed until the sun came up the next morning. I didn’t know it was possible to miss somebody this hard, like every cell in my body ached. Maybe it was time to tiptoe outside the closet. Amos had moved on. He was out, presumably dating, living his life in the present, not the past. I opened the Milkman app and officially activated the profile Pop had created for me. It was both one small step and one giant leap for Hutch Hawkins.