Josh awoke with a groan as he felt his nose brush against Dustin's cheek, inhaling the comforting scent of his boyfriend.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Dude!” Dustin whispered urgently. “Get off the bed!”

Knock! Knock! Knock! “Boys, it’s time to rise and shine.”

“Ugh!” Josh muttered as he tumbled out of bed, diving into his sleeping bag. “Way too early!” His voice was thick with sleep.

His mother chuckled from outside the door. “You have a visitor. Can we come in?”

“At this hour? Oh, whatever!”

As the bright Florida sunlight streamed in, he squinted and saw Olivia standing next to his mom. “Olivia, what are you doing here so early?”

“It’s 10:52. When exactly is that considered early?”

“Where I live! I’m 14, it’s Saturday, and Dustin and I don’t need to get up until we’re starving.”

“Or until I come in and pour sweet tea on you,” his mom laughed. “I saved some biscuits and gravy, and you both can cook your own eggs. By the way,” she added, turning to leave, “did you sleep OK cramped in that single bed?”

“Hey! No, we—” Josh protested from his sleeping bag as Olivia laughed and closed the door.

“Think anyone is fooled? ‘Dude, get off the bed!’” she teased.

Dustin sat up, wrapping a blanket around himself. “You heard that?”

Olivia rolled her eyes in response. “Whatever, no one cares about your love story. We have serious matters to discuss. Get up, Josh!”

“Turn around!” he grumbled. “I’m just in boxers.”

She snorted but complied, allowing the boys to quickly throw on shorts from the mess of clothes on the floor.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Josh asked.

Olivia sat cross-legged on the shag carpet. “First off, nice job shattering queer stereotypes. Your room is a disaster, gay boy.”

“What are you doing here, bi girl?” Josh questioned.

“We have urgent planning to do. Mr. Grant called me last night to say all our GSA posters, rainbows, and trans flags must come down from the walls and bulletin boards. That’s what the principal says.”

“What?!” Dustin exclaimed, his body tensing against Josh.

“Why?” Josh asked.

“Some parents complained at a board meeting. Mr. Grant said they called our stuff indoctrination and grooming.”

“What’s grooming?” Josh asked.

Olivia shot him a look. “Clearly not something you know about. Dustin, can you do something about your boyfriend's hair?”

Dustin chuckled and began smoothing down Josh's messy hair, then spoke seriously. “Grooming is what child molesters do before they, you know… hurt kids.”

“We ARE kids!” Josh protested, then grinned at Dustin. “Keep playing with my hair, and you can mess with me all you want.”

“Josh!” Olivia interjected. “We need to take action. We can't let them teach others that we aren't acceptable.”

“But what can we do?” Dustin asked. “Did you speak to Mr. Grant?”

“He said it’s up to us to decide, and no matter how much I pressed him, that’s all he said.”

“Damn it!” Josh exclaimed, feeling his Saturday joy fade. Now that his mom allowed Dustin to stay over again, he was excited about the weekend. They planned to play video games, shoot hoops, swim, bike, and enjoy privacy. Getting upset was NOT in the plans.

“GOD damn it,” he repeated. “They can’t do this! We need to call Mr. Grant again for help.”

“Shhh,” Dustin whispered in his ear as Olivia jumped up, holding her phone in front of them.

“What’s that?” Dustin asked. “That’s a long text.”

“From Ken,” Olivia replied. “He sent a massive list of links an hour ago without context. Get your tablet ready, Josh. Mr. Grant clearly thinks it’s unsafe for him to say anything, but his husband isn’t shy.”

Thirty minutes later, over biscuits and gravy with Josh's slightly burnt scrambled eggs, the trio gathered around his tablet, reading stories of students who organized walkouts at their schools.

Keesha whipped off her sunglasses and shot Olivia a glare. “Hold on! You all act like everyone is on board. What are we going to gain from this besides detention? Are we just going to follow your plan?”

Josh’s eyes widened as he looked around the pool deck at the 20 kids they had invited over for what Olivia termed a GSA planning meeting.

“But we have to act!” he insisted to Keesha, a tall trans girl he barely knew. “We can’t let them win, and Mr. Grant’s husband, Ken, he said…”

“Like Barbie doll Ken?” Keesha interrupted. “Another rich white boy like Mr. Grant? Nobody is going to report him for truancy. No school safety officer will arrest him. I don’t see Grant here either. Is he just going to keep his head down again?”

“That’s not fair!” Josh retorted, feeling heat rise in his face. “Mr. Grant is great! If it weren’t for him, I would never have come out. He can’t do too much without risking his job, but he supports us when we need him.”

He heard murmurs of agreement, but Keesha walked toward him, pointing a finger at his nose. “Super happy you have role models.”

She gestured around. “Must be tough living in a mansion with a pool while your parents make snacks for the queer kids you invite over. I can see you need Grant to help you. You going to be alright?”

Josh noticed Dustin inhaling sharply and getting up from his relaxed position on a lounger.

He seemed ready to speak, but Lucas interrupted. “Keesha has a point,” said the short, skinny kid who had just decided they didn’t want to be called he anymore.

“No, she does…” Josh began, getting angrier. But Dustin tapped him on the back of his neck and spoke softly. “You need to let others speak now.”

Josh glared as Lucas continued. “Look, I can’t do the walkout thing. If my parents find out, I’m dead! I’m dead if they discover I’m here discussing queer issues. Can I just say something about all of us before we figure out what to do next?”

Keesha struck a pose that seemed to say, “Go ahead,” while Dustin said, “The floor’s yours, man… uh, kid.”

“We all have issues,” Lucas stated. “Some more than others… But honestly, I barely had friends before I met you all. I was bullied every day. Now… Keesha lets me sit with her at lunch, Olivia helps me with makeup and removing it before my parents notice, Dustin’s teaching me to shoot hoops just for fun, and Josh lends me his mom when I really need support. And no offense, but I don’t need rainbow flags or anything. I’m scared we’ll lose everything we have.”

For a moment, all that could be heard was breathing, then Keesha said, “I’m not saying I’m scared, but we’ve got your back, Lucas.”

Olivia added, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t consider any of that.”

Dustin walked over to Keesha and put an arm around her for a moment before speaking. “I don’t usually talk this much,” he said, “but listen…”

“You and I need to have a private chat,” Keesha whispered, pulling him aside. She raised her voice to address everyone. “Back in a minute, everyone.”

Sitting in 5th period social studies, Josh’s stomach knotted. He wished the clock would freeze. He glanced at Olivia, who was tearing a piece of paper into tiny bits, and figured she felt as anxious as he did.

His phone alarm buzzed in his pocket, and he swallowed hard. He almost decided to remain seated, especially as he noticed Olivia wasn’t exactly leaping up.

Then he thought about Dustin, Martina, Lucas, and Keesha. He reached into his left pocket and pulled out a rainbow flag, tying it around his arm. He reached into his right pocket and tied a trans flag around his other arm. He grabbed the final flag and saw Olivia doing the same.

He stood up.

“Josh!” the teacher exclaimed. “What on earth are you doing? You look ridiculous! Sit down immediately!”

The force of Mr. Johnson’s voice pushed him halfway down, but then he remembered his purpose. He pulled out a slip of paper from his notebook and looked to Olivia, who nodded for him to begin.

“This is a walkout,” he read, stumbling over some of the following words. “We, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students of White Sands Middle School refuse to be silenced. We will say gay. We will say transgender. We will say bi. Today, our friends join us to send a message of love and joy to our fellow students and a message of protest and defiance to the school board as it attempts to teach our friends that we deserve shame rather than respect.”

Mr. Johnson’s mouth dropped open, as if he wanted to speak but couldn't find the words. Then he smiled broadly at Josh.

Olivia distributed copies of the statement as she moved towards the door. “Meet us on the football field,” she told the class. “Anyone who supports us, come along.” Josh took her hand, walking out without looking back.

As Josh and Olivia held hands, they swallowed hard while reaching the fifty-yard line where everyone had agreed to gather. “This isn’t working!” Josh hissed. “Nobody’s coming!”

It wasn’t that no one was coming; they were just the first ones out since their classroom was closest. But kids weren’t rushing out. A few stragglers arrived, flags fluttering in the wind that hinted at an approaching thunderstorm.

“It’s not enough!” Olivia exclaimed. “We’re doomed!”

Some regular GSA members wandered over, fear evident in their expressions as they glanced at the dark clouds rolling toward the beach.

“Look!” Josh shouted. The large double gym doors swung open, revealing Dustin leading a crowd, all waving flags. “He did it!”

“It’s like the entire basketball and football team!” Olivia exclaimed. “They showed up!”

Cheers erupted, and Josh thought the cheers were for the athletes until he noticed another large group running from the opposite side of the school. Keesha was leading, holding cheerleader pom-poms, a trans flag in one hand and a Black Lives Matter flag in the other.

“She’s got nearly every Black kid in school with her!” Olivia shouted. “She did it!”

Keesha and Dustin embraced in the field's center. Keesha lifted a bullhorn to her mouth. “Thank you for coming,” she shouted. “I hesitated to organize this because I thought I’d be alone. There aren’t enough queer kids at White Sands to stick together and feel safe. Then Dustin and I made some plans. And look!”

She pointed at the school doors, where even more kids were streaming out, many of them seemingly straight. Keesha handed the megaphone to Dustin.

“I don’t usually talk this much,” he yelled, “but the adults trying to silence us do NOT define who we are. The kids in this school do NOT accept that. Most of the TEACHERS don’t agree either, but they might be scared, so it’s up to us to show them what to do. They can’t punish the entire school! Right?!”

A few kids shouted back, but not many. Dustin raised his voice even more. “RIGHT?!”

The roar that erupted hurt Josh’s ears.

Keesha took the megaphone as rain began to pour. “Black lives matter!” she chanted, Dustin lifting her into the air so her voice would carry.

Every kid on the football field echoed back. Josh raised his Black Lives Matter flag high, waving it. Half the school joined in the chant. Moments later, as adults with a video camera and a large microphone rushed toward them through the storm, Keesha shifted the chant to “Say Gay! Say Gay!” Soon after, shouts of “Say Trans!” competed with the thunder.

Dustin grabbed Josh, spinning him around in the rain, almost as if they were dancing. Josh laughed and cried simultaneously, thinking of Lucas, who couldn’t be there, and Martina, who had vanished and might be suffering.

But as hundreds of kids shouted “Say gay” with him, the warm afternoon rain soaked him with joy.

He felt his phone vibrating and pulled it out. He gulped when he saw a text from his mom. “You get home right after school, young man! You have some serious explaining to do!”

Want to read more about Josh, Dustin, Olivia, Martina, and their friends? Check out these stories, which you don’t have to read in order, though you might like to:

• Teaching Love to a Gay Boy (The Hard Way)

  A closeted afternoon goes sideways

  medium.com

• Barring a Trans Kid From the GSA and Don’t Say Gay

  Josh and Dustin learn sad lessons about love, rejection, and authoritarianism

  medium.com

• Gay Kid Struggles with Love, Gatekeeping, and Cringy Parents

  Josh and Dustin learn Olivia might be more than just bossy

  medium.com

• Gay Boy’s Lament: You Don’t Own Me!

  Josh and Dustin get busted

  medium.com

• Straight Parents Teach Queer Kid Loving Defiance and Family

  Lucas and Josh think about love and subversion

  medium.com

• Gay Boy Learns about Grief and the Power of Imperfection

  Josh and Dustin get shocking, sad, scary news

  medium.com

James Finn is a columnist for the LA Blade, a former Air Force intelligence analyst, an alumnus of Queer Nation and Act Up NY, and an “agented” but unpublished novelist. Send questions, comments, and story ideas to [email protected].

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