The Bartender

"Bye mom" I said as I kissed my mom on the cheek. Another beautiful day of school. I really couldn't wait to go to school. I had not been there all week and I kind of missed a lot.

Aside from my best friend moving to this town, I also missed my other friends at school. My best friend, Kyle was also starting our school since he just moved to St. Lawrence. He's the new kid. I knew what it was like to be the new kid. There were a lot of bullies in school and I knew this because I was one of them. I didn't bully for the fun of it, but there was a good reason to why I did it, according to me at least. I didn't enjoy it but it was the only way I knew how to ensure that I didn't become one of the bullied. I honestly just wanted the person I bullied to change. I knew it was wrong but what did I ever to to Jimmy in fifth grade? He still punched me in the face with my own fist.

There was just this one particular kid that I worried all the time. He was a year younger than me. I didn't do it to make him feel bad, okay, maybe a bit but that was because he was a bad kid. He was gay and I hated those perverts.

I drove my car to school, it was a birthday gift from my mom. I lived with her.. She was a successful business woman even though she was always at home. My dad however, was always away on business trips so often I didn't see him often. He usually came home during weekends once every month but his visits started to get less and less by the time I was ten years old. And we were quite rich. I got a BMW convertible for my birthday. I didn't like to show off though because it once got me into trouble, but that's a different story.

I got to school in time, ten minutes before the bell would ring. I didn't see any of my friends around so I just walked straight to my locker. After checking my schedule, I picked up the books I needed from the locker and placed them in my bag.

I wasn't the brightest kid, but I wasn't dumb either. I'd say I'm an average student. With some C's and B's, I was fine. I didn't try so hard. I didn't really like school though but I wanted to go to the university, or at least get some higher education so I had decided to work up my grades. This was my final year and the least I could do was put in some effort to finish with a small bang.

I closed my locker and leant by it, waiting for my friends. I stared at some of the girls who passed by and smiled at me. I smiled back, not wanting to seem rude. Many of them were friends with my girlfriend, or at least acquainted with her and I didn't want to get on their bad side. Sometimes, the attention I got was annoying but other times, it boosted my ego. I wouldn't say I was the hottest guy in the school, the jocks had that position, but I was good looking.

"Hey babe," Gabrielle, my girlfriend said as she hooked her arm around mine.

I bent down to her 5'5 height and placed a soft kiss on her lips. I'm not really tall, just 5'8. "I missed you love" I said to her as I put a strabd of her gorgeous brown locks behind her ear.

"Try taking it to the janitor's" Andrew said and gagged. Andrew was my other friend. He was much taller than me, standing at 6 feet and had short black hair, always trimmed on the sides while the top part was in dreads, and with light brown eyes that really complimented his dark skin. I chuckled before turning way from them.

Fuck, I hated that kid, I thought as I tuned to see Niall walking to his locker. Unfortunately for him, it was next to mine.

"Well, if it isn't the fag" I grinned wickedly, or so I thought. Hey, I couldn't see my own face. I grabbed his arm forcefully making him wince in pain.

"Please don't hurt me Aiden" Niall said.

"I'm not gonna hurt you" I whispered against Niall's earlobe. "But you like the pain don't you?"

Seeing Niall wince in pain always left me conflicted. Mostly because I knew I didn't have to do this, and yet, what if he turned on me at some point. Besides, seeing the kind of effect I had on him made me feel a little good about myself. Yeah, I was insecure, sue me.

"Don't you wanna know how pussy feels, fag?" I hissed as I kneed him in the balls, wincing inwardly at what I did. But that would teach him not to be a pervert.

I watched as Niall whimpered on the floor. Sometimes I regretted what I did to him but he was gay and he deserved it. So, with a satisfying smirk, I turned back to my friends. Andrew just looked bored as he typed in his phone whiles Gabrielle smirked at me.

"The fag has a boyfriend," Gabrielle laughed, making me turn to look at who the supposed boyfriend was. I felt my jaw drop as I saw my best friend helping Niall up.

"Get away from him Kyle, he's a freak".

"You know him?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah, that's my best friend. I told you about him," I said to him. I had texted him last night about Kyle moving here. Smiling, I walked over to Kyle.

I watched on as Kyle looked at Niall who was close to tears. Why was he even helping him? He shook his head and handed Niall a tissue. "I'll see you at lunch" he said to the boy.

"Okay" Niall whispered before rushing off to class.

He turned to me with a frown. "What was that all about?"

I was shocked to see my best friend so angry and glaring at me. This was not how we were supposed to be meeting after two years. We were supposed to be smiling and hugging.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Why were you hurting the poor kid?"

"Kyle, come on. He's a fag. A pervert. Someone's gotta teach him a lesson," I stated and tried hugging my friend only to get pushed away. "What the fuck?"

Kyle was still frowning at me, looking really pissed. "This is not the Aiden I know. You'll never hurt someone".

"Well, I didn't ask him to be gay. He chose to be gay".

The bell rung then and everyone rushed off to class, leaving Kyle and I in the hall way. We both had English so we went the same way.

"Come on Aiden" Kyle whispered. "Is that what this is about? Because he's gay?"

I raised an eyebrow, as if to say, duh! Was that even a question he had to ask?

"I can't be your friend if you go about hurting people because of who they are".

It was more of a statement than a question and I froze in my steps as I watched him walk off. My best friend was going to stop talking to me because of that gay kid? Really?

I was brought out of my trance when someone rushed past me. That's just great. Now, I was late for class. I threw my hands up in the air with a groan and went ahead. I noticed that Kyle was sitting at the far end of the class, away from me. When our eyes locked, Kyle frowned and looked sideways. What was his problem?

I shook my head and sat down. I really couldn't concentrate. I knew being gay was bad, so why was Kyle defending Niall. That was just wrong. Maybe he defended him because he was a caring person? I sighed.

None of my classes went well as I just kept asking myself the same question over and over again. Okay, maybe bullying was bad. If I really wanted Niall to change, I'd just have to talk to him.

This made me grimace as I remembered when I got bullied in middle school. It was awful and I didn't even do any thing wrong. They just thought it was fun because my parents were rich.

The bell for lunch rung and I quickly packed my books. I met up with Gabrielle and we went to the cafeteria. I didn't like what the school served so my mom always had lunch packed for me. I had a chicken sandwich with apple juice today.

When I sat down, I looked around to find Kyle and maybe I got a little bothered when I saw him sitting with Niall. What the heck was going on? Where did he even know him from? Kyle just moved back to St. Lawrence so there was no way he knew Niall. Besides, Niall was a year younger than us. I couldn't put my finger to it.

I whined as Gabrielle tried to kiss me. I actually loved her kisses but I just wasn't up for it today. I had Kyle on my mind. I needed my best friend back and away from that boy. I looked over at Kyle and he was laughing at something Niall said. I couldn't help but feel jealous. Only slightly though.

"It's probably not funny" I mumbled.

"What mate?" Andrew asked.

So that came out loud enough. I sighed and shook my head. "Nothing".

I couldn't wait to go home and tell mom what happened. I knew she'll back him up anyway. She didn't know I bullied people at school, if she did, she'll lock me up in my room for sure.

When the closing bell rang, I hurriedly picked my bag and tried to meet up with Kyle before leaving. I saw him at the car park talking to Niall and I walked over to them.

"Kyle!" I exclaimed, finally getting Kyle's attention. I noticed Niall looking down at his shoes as if he was scared of me. Well, he should be, I thought. He's just a good for nothing gay asshole.

"Aiden" Kyle said, and he wasn't smiling. He pulled me aside to talk to me. "I think you should apologize to him".

"Why would I do that?" I asked. What Kyle was asking was simply outrageous. I'd never stoop so low to apologize to a fag. Never.

"Because you hurt him. I mean, you should have seen him when he was crying. You and I both know what happens to people when they get bullied".

"So you want to lecture me about my past now?"

Kyle glared at me. "No. I'm trying to tell you that you could make him go through what you went through. You think he chose to be gay?"

"Well, he obviously wasn't born with it," I grumbled.

Kyle sighed. "Don't be like this. You can't make someone be what they are not".

I didn't reply. Instead, I bit my lip as I remembered what I went through when I was in middle school.

"I can't be your friend if you continue to do this".

I watched as Kyle left with Niall. I rolled my eyes. Now, the fag has stolen my best friend from as well. Great. That's just great.