Page 8 of The Rebel's Guide to Pride

“Yes, he did.” Sawyer narrowed her eyes at Cohen before looking at me. “But you’re gonna end it, right? Because you know how much this means, and I’m your best friend—”

“Hisonlyfriend,” Cohen inserted.

“—who worked really hard to make this happen,” she finished, ignoring his remark.

She expectantly waited for me to oblige. That was how she operated, always calling the shots. Sometimes it was easier to go along with it instead of butting heads. Let her take the lead since she was the gay guru, and I was just…here.

“Fine,” I said, slowly unclenching my fists. “I’ll keep my shit together.”

“Since when have you kept it—”

Kennedy cut him off. “Let’s just make it through Saturday, Cohen. Then you two can pound each other.”

“Ew,” I spat out quickly.

“That doesn’t mean what you think it does,” he told her, trying his best to ignore my glare. “Can we just get this meeting over with already?”

“Finally something we can all agree on.” Sawyer took a deep breath, then exhaled roughly as she grabbed her tablet. “We have a tight schedule for Saturday, and we”—she pointed at Cohen and me again—“haveto make sure it goes as planned. Mayor Buchanan is just waiting for us to give him a reason to cancel this whole thing, so nothing can go wrong.”

Buchanan hadn’t even wanted to celebrate Pride Month in the first place. After the QSA got enough community signatures, we’d been allowed three hours instead of a full month. I’d been helping them cram as much gay as possible into each one, thrilled to know my father would hate every minute of it.

“I’m opening the drag show at noon,” Sawyer read from the agenda she’d created. After years of writing X-Men fanfic, she was performing as the tap-dancing Captain Jaymes Catz character she’d created. “Kennedy’s helping me with my drag king gear, so that means you two—”

“Will be helping the vendors get set up,” I finished.

“I’ll handle it,” Cohen corrected, giving me side-eye. “Your only job is to not be late.”

I opened my mouth to insult him, but Sawyer held upa finger in warning. My comment died on my tongue as she continued. “After the show, the community tents will open up. We’ll each take turns working the QSA table until it’s time for the parade to start.”

The parade would be the ultimate fuck-you to my father. The route would go right by his law office, and I knew he’d come out to watch. That’s what he’d done when I rode in the Homecoming procession last year. He’d soon see me up on the QSA float holding a pride banner with Cohen. I couldn’t wait to smile and wave at him. Show him I’m speaking up, proud to be out—pretending like I wasn’t the biggest fraud for doing all this for the wrong reasons.

“We’re gonna havesomuch fun in the parade, Coco,” I said to him with a wink, shoving down the doubt that threatened to shake me.

At the sound of his old nickname, crimson erupted across Cohen’s cheeks. I’d called him that during the quiet moments we’d shared in between study sessions. In those moments we’d listen to Bleachers albums while sharing headphones and talk about our lives. But when he’d asked me to be his boyfriend, I’d been too ashamed to tell him my father wouldn’t approve, too afraid to wear a bold rainbow pin and hold his hand. So, I blew him off with some lame excuse about being friends, even though it hurt. I’d felt bad until he immediately moved on to the mathletes captain.

That was how our rivalry started.

“We can be each other’s wingmen if there are any hot guys in the crowd,” I pushed, fanning the flames.If I can’t fight him, then…“Maybe Geometry Derick will be there!”

“You’ve turned into such a himbo,” he said indignantly, theblush giving way to annoyance. “Pride is about being heard, not finding someone to smash.”

“Excuse you, but I take offense to that.” I jabbed a finger at him. “And I know what Pride is.”

“But do you really?” he asked, shaking his head. “You joined the QSA afterwedid most of the hard work. Are you even paying attention to what’s happening in Beggs? What’s happening with state laws and the Supreme Court?”

“Whoa, way to go from zero to a hundred. Of fuckin’ course I’m aware of that,” I said, an edge to my voice. I’d been right there with them as we met with the mayor and watched the hateful fallout from the petition. I kept trying to be good enough, like him, but it felt like I was constantly playing catch-up. “I’m not dumb.”

“Maybe if you actually cared—”

“Enough!” Sawyer yelled in exasperation. She blinked slowly, took her glasses off, and cleaned them with the edge of her skirt. “Neither of you are allowed to talk until we go over this.”

Cohen let it drop but kept staring at me. For a moment it felt like he wasactuallyseeing me. That he knew the real me, the Anthony Zeke Chapman underneath this hard-ass disguise, the one he had once fallen for. But then he shook his head and wrote me off, just like everyone else. It only added insult to injury that he was still as beautiful as he’d been when he treated me like I mattered. I wanted to tell him this was all an act. Instead, I forced myself to keep quiet and grabbed my phone from the sofa arm. Forced myself to scroll Instagram and double-tap pictures of comic book artwork. Forced myselfnotto care.

Chapter 4

The grand opening of Roaring Mechanics had been celebrated with a makeshift speakeasy. Mom had gone all out with a fake store in the lobby and a secret phrase to enter the garage. It had been a celebration that only invited guests knew about. The 1920s theme complemented how she’d decorated the shop, with art deco floors and a portrait of Zelda Fitzgerald on the back wall.

From my spot under a minivan, I could see that painting. The iconic woman had been part of our family since I was a kid. Mom used to tell me stories about Zelda’s childhood before bed, when we’d been in the old garage, anytime it’d been just her and me together. I knew that Zelda had met her husband the summer she turned eighteen. Two years later, in 1920, he was her escape from Montgomery, Alabama, and her strict father so she could finally live—

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