Free Before I Break by Alec John Belle Page A

would probably imagine it’s senior year.
    So after staying up until two in the morning studying, Sunday didn’t necessarily seem like the best of ideas. Mom and Dad were heading out to church, leaving me all alone, because no matter how much they tried talking Morrison into letting me back, he said he felt obligated to say no. Now there I was, deciding to spend the day doing things I actually enjoyed.
    In my room I was flipping through channels trying to find something to watch, but just wasn’t feeling it. Heading downstairs to the kitchen, I heard the doorbell ring along the way and wondered who it could be.
    I opened the front door and Jake was standing there, smiling. “Hey man. I got some stuff. Can I come in?”
    “Jake, listen—”
    “I know you aren’t doing it anymore,” Jake said, stepping through the threshold. “Doesn’t mean I can’t. Where’s the fam?”
    “Um, at church, where you should be,” I replied as I closed the door. Hunger settled inside me and I realized I needed some food. Now going to the kitchen, I asked, “Please tell me you didn’t get kicked out, too.”
    “Of course not, man,” Jake said, plopping his very happy, and very high, butt on my couch. He lit a joint and said, “There’s some fag-rally going on.”
    My heart nearly hit the floor. “This weekend?”
    “This weekend what?”
    “The pride rally. At the church, it’s this weekend?”
    “Guess so,” he told me, taking a huge puff of the pot. “When we got there, there were a few people outside with picket signs and stuff dressed up like a bunch o’ damn unicorns. They’re probably shittin’ rainbows on the sidewalk.”
    When we first had decided to do the rally, we wanted to give it a couple of weeks to make Pastor Morrison think that we weren’t coming back for our rights. Avery’s rights, I had to clarify. These were his rights, his problem, not mine.
    In the living room, I grabbed the remote and flipped the news to find that it was being recorded live. There was Melissa and Avery, holding signs reading, ‘Gay is Okay’ and ‘It’s not our rights—it’s human rights.’ This could not have been happening.
    “Oh, lookie!” Jake said, laughing entirely too loud. “There’s your girlfriend with the homosexuals!”
    Goth was there too, who had later identified herself as Eve, ironically enough. Why was this happening right now, of all days? My parents were probably already there in the church, talking to Morrison about the sins of this.
    Then the reporter was speaking to Melissa, asking, “Why are you and your friends protesting today?”
    Melissa smiled right into the camera, looking beautiful enough to make most guys probably go through with this. “An incident occurred last Wednesday night where my friend and I got into a heated discussion with Pastor Morrison about whether homosexuality was a sin or not. While on stage, a person from the audience threw a cup of boiling hot coffee at Avery, so my friends and I decided to come protest.”
    “We hear you’ve been banned. How long have you been coming to this church?” the reporter went on.
    “I’ve been here my entire life,” Melissa said. “I have come to see that the church is twisted in their beliefs and my friends and I strongly disagree with discrimination.”
    “Thank you, Melissa. Back to you, George.”
    A man, who I assumed was George, was on screen then, saying, “Thank you. While Pastor Morrison is displeased with the situation, officials cannot stop the pride rally due to it being across the street from the church and not on church property. With the freedom of speech, some say it would be unconstitutional for officers to invade.”
    Unconstitutional my ass. I couldn’t let Melissa continue on with the pride rally like this. Grabbing my jacket, I said, “Come on, Jake. We have a rally to interrupt.”

    The hardest part about not doing weed anymore is the fact that I was now responsible for Jake, even though I really