In study hall Brandon sat like a little faggot so I said “Hey faggot.”
“That’s right, faggot. Don’t look at me. I don’t like faggots looking at me. I don’t want their faggot eyes on me, faggot.”
Bell rang and he walked like a faggot and held his books like a faggot so I knocked them out of his gay little hands.
I bumped past him as he bent to pick them up. “Fag.”
Last bell. Walked home, played X-Box.
Dad kicked my feet off the coffee table.
“Keep your damn shoes off my furniture, faggot.”
~ fin ~
Thomas Pluck writes unflinching fiction with heart. His debut novel Blade of Dishonor stars MMA fighter 'Rage Cage' Reeves rescuing his WWII vet grandpa from a battle between ninja and samurai over a stolen sword. His work has appeared in The Utne Reader, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, Burnt Bridge, PANK Magazine, McSweeney's, The Morning News, Beat to a Pulp, and numerous anthologies. He writes regular columns for Devil Gourmet, The Big Thrill, Criminal Element, and The Good Men Project. He is also the editor of Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT. You can find him on the web at www.thomaspluck.com and Twitter as @tommysalami
