Chapter 1: Prologue
Homophobes.
And he lives smack-dab in the middle of Homophobia, home of the homophobes.
Also known as Blackridge , Ohio.
Some things you should know about Skyler Day. His middle name is Mary, same name as his late mother. She died when he was six, so his Dad raised him until he got remarried his sophomore year of Highschool, to a nice widow named Lucy James. With their union, Skyler gained a new stepbrother, Nick.The James's, thankfully, are not homophobic. That would be a problem.
He's attended Magnum High for the past three years on a scholarship he won in an essay contest about anti-bullying. For his senior year though, he wants to escaped the confinement of the prep school life. Skyler Day is a fashion designer, and in a school where you are forced to wear the same uniform everyday, it's torture to his soul. His individuality is not appreciated or allowed to be highlighted either, and he's sick of blending in with the crowd, even if he is in a zero-tolerance bullying environment.
So he's transferring. To Blackridge Highschool, home of the Wolves, in Blackridge, Ohio. Which unfortunately, has no bully policy whatsoever. And they have a Slushie machine. Lovely.
Oh, and there's one more thing you should know about Skyler Day.
He's gay.
Senior year should be plain magic, don't you think?
There isn't really a lot that bothers Zack Brian.
If you make fun of his family, his friends, or the fact that he's as gay Elton John , well, that's another story.
Zack has been a student of Blackridge High since freshman year, when he transferred halfway through the year after a certain... incident at his previous school. He's a member of the school choir, the very bottom of the popularity food chain. His parents come from money. Big money. He's friendly to teachers, skipped a year because of how high his test scores are, and is not that bad a guy.
Except for the fact that he can fight. And he has no problem using it to help the little guy.
Jock just Slushie a girl in his choir? Zack's in detention the next day for beating the crap out of him. Edward Night put false footage of Zack's lab partner on his blog? His camera is mysteriously wrecked beyond recognition, along with Edward's glasses. Someone toss a nerd in a dumpster? You'll find them there the next day, stripped to their underwear and doodles on their face. In sharpie.
Spray paint "FAG" on Zack's locker? Well, let's just say we don't talk about what happened to those guys.
All in all, he's a pretty decent guy. He just so happens to use his fists to solve all his problems, despite his impressive IQ.
Senior year, he's looking forward to getting out of this shit-hole and making a name for himself. No one wants to be a Blackridge-loser on their adulthood after all. One more year to go, he's already skipped the torture of another one.
So when he hears about a new student transferring from the prestigious Magnum High through his network of connections, he ups his training a little more that final week of vacation.
New students are always instant targets at Blackridge. And if he can help make the kid's life not a total hell, then he's done his job right.
Especially if the new student is gay, too.