Page 85 of Hello Single Dad

I cleared my throat, trying to catch my own bearings. “Do either of you have a hall pass?”

They looked at each other and then shook their heads.

“Come with me,” I said.

The walk to my office felt longer than ever. And they weren’t in trouble. Plenty of kids skipped class, but both of them had fairly good attendance records. No, I needed to talk to them about safety—with their bodies and their hearts.

We reached my office, and I turned to the boys. “Ryde, will you wait in the hallway, please?”

Silently, he sat on the bench while Ollie followed me inside.

His eyes were on Ralphie, and Ralphie seemed to peer back at him with his big black eyes.

“Ollie,” I said softly, “does this have anything to do with why your grades have been suffering?”

Ollie didn’t quite meet my eyes. But he nodded enough to know the answer. “Are you going to tell my parents?” he asked. “Or Ryde’s? His family doesn’t know...”

“Oh, Ollie.” I covered my chest with my hand, shaking my head slightly. I took a deep breath and spoke softly. “As it’s a first-time offense, I’ll let you both off with a warning.” He turned toward the door, but I said, “Wait. I know how difficult this must be for you.”

“Do you?” He turned on me, his eyes red-rimmed. “Do you know how hard it is to be gay in a small school where the majority of the student population is Christian? Do you know how hard it is for your sexual orientation to be an insult or the butt of a joke?”

His words had a bite behind them, but I knew the sting wasn’t for me. “I don’t,” I said gently. “But I know how hard it is not to be free to date who you want to date.” I pressed my lips together, shaking my head. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“Me neither,” he said.

My lips tugged into a shadow of a smile. “Why don’t you get back to class? I’m assuming fourth-hour wasn’t scheduled to take place in a utility closet.”

He nodded and walked out the door.

Gathering myself, I took a breath and went to the hall to get Ryde to come into my office. But when I looked at the bench, he was gone.

46

OLLIE

Where the hell was Ryde?

When I walked out of Ms. M’s office, he was nowhere to be found, and honestly, it kind of pissed me off. So I was supposed to take whatever consequences we had while he ran off and hid behind his parents’ money?

To be fair, it hadn’t been that bad. Ms. Melrose had been surprisingly cool about it. And even though I was terrified my parents would find out I’d been caught skipping class and making out in closets, they wouldn’t be mad I’d been with a guy.

Ryde’s parents would never be okay with his orientation. It would cost them too much money from Ryde’s paycheck. He was going to be an actor—a famous one—and girls would go crazy over him. If they knew he was gay, he’d lose the fans who wanted to be with him.

I tried to point out to him that there were plenty of queer people who would love him, but gay guys weren’t half the population like women were.

So we’d been sneaking around. Making out in closets and staying after school on Monday afternoons when my dad thought I was at botany club.

That was, until today.

On the way to class, I made sure no one was around and got out my phone to send him a text.

Ollie: Are you okay?

I looked at the screen for a moment…no response. Maybe he was already back in class.

Tucking my phone back in my bag, I went back to the English room. We were readingTo Kill a Mockingbirdout loud for the hour.

Making out in a closet had seemed like a much better use of my time. You know, until we got caught.

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