Chapter Five: Will & Jacob

Will met Jacob on his first day of school. They were in Hanson's Biology class. They hit it off right away. They had the same interests, but it was their love for The Hobbit that grew them together. 

While Jane was zooming around town with Becky, Will was hanging out with Jacob at the AV Club. They managed to build a radio so that they'd stay in contact. 

During their time together, Will started to experience something he never felt before. Every time he saw Jacob, his heart would race and his would start sweating. He could hardly breathe, but he felt okay. At night, he dreamed of Jacob. At first they were fantasy dreams; they mainly consisted of them in a Dungeons & Dragons world slaying beasts and vanquishing evil wizards. Then they morphed into just Jacob lying in bed with Will. Often Will woke up in a cold sweat to make sure he was alone.

It got worse. Whenever he stood close to Jacob, he wanted to touch him.

Then, there came a day Will wouldn't forget. He was at Level Up with Jacob taking turns playing Pac-Man. It was Will's turn, and he just had Pac-Man eat the last dot. He and Jacob cheered. Jacob placed his hand on Will's shoulder. 

Will looked at Jacob. He eyed Jacob's hand. 

Seeing Will's eye sight, Jacob quickly removed his hand. "Sorry."

Will and Jacob looked into each other's eyes. The next thing Will knew, they were crashing into the bathroom, locking lips.

Will's heart tumbled and jumped. He could hardly breathe. But, oh, how Jacob tasted. It was intoxicating. 

Just when the moment couldn't get any better, there was a shuffle of porcelain. Will and Jacob both stopped. Someone was in the bathroom. They quickly moved to stand in front of two urinals. 

Mike stepped out of the stall and began to wash his hands.

Will finished at the urinal and walked to the sinks. He looked at Mike's reflection in the mirror. Will was terrified. Mike didn't say anything. He finished and left the bathroom. 

So, now Mike knew about Will's secret. He wasn't sure of what Mike would say the next time he saw him.

Later that night, Will met Mike as he came out of the bathroom. All Mike asked was if Jacob was kind to him, and he promised not to tell anyone. 

Thankful for Mike's indiscretion, Will breathed easier. He and Jacob explored their new relationship further. There was so much more to him than just being a good kisser. 

Then one night, there was a long session of experimenting with ham radios. They put the radios away and packed up. Just they left the room, Will gave Jacob a long smooch. 

Little do they know, someone was watching them. 

***

Will entered the school building without a care in the world. He was thinking about the Christmas break. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice something was written on his locker.

He put his books in his locker, grabbed his notebook for English, and he closed the locker door. He jumped in fear when he saw "FAGGOT" scribbled down the front. 

Jane was just a few feet behind Will. She saw the writing. 

"What's that?" She asked Will.

"It's a message!" Someone shouted. 

Will and Jane turned around. 

A largely built boy, wearing a high school basketball jersey, stood in front of a large crowd. They were all looking at the graffiti. 

"Faggots have no place in our school!" The boy yelled.

Jane approached the boy. Her eyes narrowed, "Did you do this?"

"No, I'm not stupid," the boy scoffed. He bent down to Jane's eye level. "Not as stupid as two boys making out in the AV Room.

"You saw?" Will gasped. He had been caught.

The boy looked at Will, "No. But stories do fly around here."

The teachers came through the hallway and broke up the crowd. One teacher saw the graffiti and sighed hard.

Will looked at the teacher. He knew what the sigh meant.

***

When Will sat down in Biology, he looked over at Jacob's desk. It was empty. 

Will feared the worst, but as the bell rang, Jacob ran in and sat down in his desk. Will sighed in relief. 

"Are you okay?" Will whispered.

Jacob was silent, but he nodded.

"Did they get your locker too?"

Jacob looked up at Will.

"Someone saw us in the AV Room last night," Will whispered, "they marked up my locker."

"Byers, focus!" Hanson shouted from the front of the room, then he went on with his lecture.

Will sat in silence. 

After about fifteen minutes, Will scribbled on a scrap piece of paper. He reached over to hand the paper to Jacob. 

Jacob looked up and saw the paper. He reached for it.

Suddenly, Hanson's hand came down from the air and snatched the paper up. Both boys jumped. 

"Well, boys," Hanson said, "let's see what's more important than my lecture."

Hanson walked to the front of the class. Will and Jacob looked at each other with terrified expressions.

Hanson cleared his throat. He read from the paper, "'I think we should keep this thing on the down low until the faggot thing blows over.' Gentlemen, what is the meaning of this?"

Both boys sat in silence. 

Will swallowed and said, "My locker was vandalized this morning."

"Someone called you this?" Hanson looked over his glasses. 

Will nodded.

Hanson sighed, "Well, I don't know what to say except you interrupted my lecture. Both of you see me after class."

Will sighed in defeat. Jacob put his head down on his desk. 

***

Hanson gave them a stern talking to about the importance of the lectures in order to ace the quizzes. He apologized about the name calling and to come to him if it happened again. Will and Jacob walked out of the room. 

Two pairs of hands grabbed them both and pulled them aside.

It was the basketball jersey kid and a goon. The jersey kid held onto Will with an iron grip. Jacob struggled, but the other boy seemed to hold him with the same grip.

"Well, Kevin," the jersey kid said, "what should we do with a couple of faggots?"

"I was thinking about how we could force them to do anal on each other," Kevin replied. 

"No, Kevin!" The jersey kid said with disbelief. "I meant now!"

"Oh," Kevin said quickly. He pondered it a moment. 

***
Jane was approaching Hanson's class, as it is fifth period. She saw the kid in the basketball jersey from this morning. He had Will in his hands.

Without even thinking, Jane charged to the jersey kid, raised her biology textbook over the kid's head, and brought it down hard.

The kid went down like a box of rocks. He howled in pain. 

Will wiggled free from the kid's grasp.

"Do something!" The jersey kid said to the other boy. 

The boy was stunned. Jane raised a fist and fired it into the boy's face. He let go of Jacob and covered his bleeding nose, screaming in pain as well. 

Jane turned to Will and Jacob. "Run," she said. 

Will and Jacob didn't think twice. They bolted down the hall. They nearly took out Becky coming in the opposite direction.

She looked at Jane. "What the hell happened?"

Before Jane could say anything, "Hopper!" Jane turned to face Hanson, who had just come out of the classroom. "Office, now."

***

Jane sat quietly in the worn out chair outside the principal's office. She wasn't sure of what the consequences of her actions. Would she be whipped? Expelled? Sent to a fantasy land? The books she read really didn't prepare her for the coming doom.

The door opened. Mr. Robertson stepped out of the room.

"Come on in, Ms. Hopper," he said to Jane. 

Jane stood up and walked towards the office. Once inside, Mr. Robertson closed the door.

"Have a seat," he said. Jane sat in a chair in front of the desk.

Mr. Robertson sat in his swivel chair.

"Now," the principal leaned forward on the desk, "it appears that you have started a bit of trouble today. Wanna tell me about it?"

Jane's heart pounded like a drum with heavy beats. She swallowed hard.

"I was approaching Hanson's class when I saw my stepbrother, Will. He was in trouble," Jane said quietly. 

"And that's why you hit Harry?"

"The kid with the jersey? Yes," Jane answered. 

"Now did it occur to use your words instead of your fists?" Mr. Robertson asked. 

"Well, sir, it wasn't the first time we came in contact with Harry," Jane objected, "This morning he was by Will's locker. We found that the word," Jane paused for a second, "f-faggot written on the door."

Mr. Robertson's eyes widened at the utterance of the word. "Did he write this word on the locker?"

"He claims he didn't," Jane said, "but he said that it was warning."

Mr. Robertson leaned back in his chair. "I'll have a talk with Harry," he said, "In the meantime, let's discuss your actions. 

"Fortunately, Kevin's nose stopped bleeding, and Harry's head will be fine," Mr. Robertson stated. He leaned towards Jane, "But you will be serving detention."

Jane gasped. She knew what that meant. She was officially a bad kid. She lowered her eyes, "Yes, sir."

"I will be notifying your mother," Mr. Robertson continued, "Today's behavior was just unacceptable, no matter how justified it is." 

Jane nodded her head. She was already planning her outfits for the rest of her life. She'll probably get purple highlights, wear eye shadow, and black lipstick. She'll invest in black leather. 

"Look, Jane," Mr. Robertson interrupted Jane's thoughts, "You're not a bad kid. You never were."

Jane's punk look vanished from her head. She looked in disbelief at the principal. 

"All your teachers rave about you," the principal went on, "Mrs. West absolutely loves you. Honestly, there's not a doubt that your teachers will think what you did was wrong. It's just that what you did wasn't right either. There are other ways to diffuse situations without getting into fights. Do you understand?"

Jane nodded her head. 

***

Becky was crumbling her grilled cheese sandwich into her crusty tomato soup when Jane sat down with her tray. 

"I never would have thought you'd start a fight," Becky said without looking up.

"I got detention," Jane mumbled. 

"Bitchin'," Becky smiled, "Detention is not bad. You just sit in a room for an hour, guarded by a young teacher who chose the short straw. It's like time out."

Will sat down across from Jane and Becky. "How did it go?" Will asked Jane.

"I got detention," Jane mumbled again. 

"Oh," Will said, "I'm sorry."

Becky stopped stirring her soup. "Wow, you guys really must be good kids. None of you ever served detention?"

Will shook his head.

"Jane, I need to tell you something." Will struggled to find the words. Finally, he just blurted out, "I'm gay."

Jane looked at Will in surprise. 

Becky slammed her spoon on the table. "No!" she cried out. "It's always the cute ones." She pretended to cry.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Jane asked. 

"That boy you helped earlier?" 

Jane nodded. 

"His name is Jacob," Will continued. "We've kissed."

"Are you guys dating?" Becky leaned over the table. She appeared to be over her reaction to Will's news.

"Not exactly," Will answered, "I don't know if we're still a thing after today. Someone wrote 'faggot' on my locker."

Becky sat back down in horror. "Oh no."

"What's 'faggot?'" Jane asked.

"'Faggot' is a slang term for a gay man," Becky explained. 

"It's not the first time I'm called that," Will said, "It was a term of endearment from my dad."

"Homosexuality really isn't popular here," Becky said. 

"It isn't anywhere," Will pointed out.

"'Homosexuality'?" Jane asked.

"It's when you like someone who is the same gender as you," Will answered her. "Like you really like them."

"And you really like Jacob?" Jane asked quietly. 

"I can't stop thinking about him, especially now more than ever. I'm really worried about him."

***

Jane had to stay behind so the principal could talk to Joyce. It was a long conversation. Jane was sure that Joyce would really let her have it when she got home.

The ride home was very quiet and uncomfortable. Jane didn't even try to say anything to soften the blow. She thought there wasn't a point. 

Joyce was the first to speak. "Jane," she began, "I want to hear it from you? Did you start a fight with someone?"

"Yes," Jane answered quietly. 

"Why?" Joyce exclaimed. 

"Because they were hurting Will and  Jacob?" Jane said. 

"Wait, who is Jacob?" Joyce asked.

"Will's boyfriend."

The news hit Joyce like a ton of bricks. "What?"

Jane realized of what she said. She said very carefully. "I probably should have let Will tell you first, but Will is gay. He told me today."

Joyce processed this for a bit. "And these boys were hurting them?"

"Yes."

"Jane, I appreciate you standing up for Will, but you just don't go hitting people," Joyce said. "I'm very disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry," Jane said quietly. 

"I know you are, but you need to understand that you aren't going to get away with this," Joyce said firmly. "Starting the minute we get home, you're grounded. No TV, and no more hangouts with Becky until after Christmas. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

***

Jane felt like Allison from The Breakfast Club in the detention hall. An outcast. That rebellious look was still in her mind. Maybe she could attend detention just because.

People were looking at her and whispering. Doing homework was prohibited, so Jane couldn't do anything to keep her mind off them. 

"Excuse me," a boy whispered, "are you Jane Hopper?"

Jane nodded.

"Is it true that hurled Kevin across the hall?"

Jane had a look of confusion and disgust as she said, "No. I just punched him in the nose."

"No talking!" The teacher yelled.

The boys leaned back in his chair in disappointment.

***

Once detention was over, Jane hurried down the hall to the AV Room where she was to meet Will. 

Will came out with a concerned look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Jane asked. 

"Jacob didn't show up today," Will answered. "We were supposed to finish our project for the science fair."

Will and Jane walked out the door toward their bikes. They rode away from the school. 

An ambulance came up from behind and zoom around them. Will and Jane looked at each other, and pedaled after the ambulance. 

They caught up to the ambulance. It was parked on the street near a small home.

"That's Jacob's house," Will gasped. He sped up and onto the driveway. He stopped. 

Jacob's parents were on the front lawn. The mother was crying. 

"What happened?" Will asked. 

The father looked sharply at Will. "You Will?" He asked very angrily. 

Will nodded his head. Jacob's father shoved a note into his chest. 

Will took the note and began to read. The more he read, the more his eyes widened. He began to hyperventilate. 

Jane had caught up with Will. Will had collapsed to the ground.

Jane picked up the note. She read to herself:

Mom and Dad, I'm sorry it had to end this way. After our argument, I couldn't bear to disappoint you. There is no way you can change my mind. I love Will, and that is that. 

But I can't live in a world where you can't accept me for who I am. I am not trying to make a statement. I simply want to spend my life with someone I love. But if you can't live with that, then what is the point of living?

Please tell Will that this isn't his fault, and that I love him. Jacob. 

Jane had tears streaming down her face by she finished reading. 

There was a clamor. Jane looked up and saw two EMTs wheeling Jacob's body on a gurney towards the ambulance. 

"Are you happy?" Jacob's father yelled at Will. "You turned my son into a faggot, and you killed him."

Will cried harder. Jane bent down to comfort him.

The EMTs closed the door, climbed into the ambulance, and it took off.