Alex paced nervously as the rest of the Gay-Straight Alliance stared at him.

"He's not gonna show," said Brandon.

"Yes, he will," said Alex, staring at the clock. "I got him on board as faculty advisor, didn't I?"

"He wasn't even wearing purple!" Trevor said incredulously. "Doesn't he know it's Spirit Day?"

"Cut him some slack," Alex said. "He's old."

"He's almost a half hour late," said Tina.

"We'll wait a few more minutes. Then we'll start without him."

*

Charlie only smoked when he was drinking, but the thought of having to be a role model to these LGBT kids made him nervous. He bummed one from the janitor and had walked a safe distance off campus to smoke it in secret. He tried to sneak in through the back alley, when he heard somebody get slammed into a dumpster.

"Fucking faggot," he heard someone say. Rounding the corner, he saw a couple of the surlier juniors getting ready to give a poor, scrawny freshman the business.

"Hey!" Charlie called out. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"We were just goofing around," said Steven Albright, a kid who'd almost flunked Charlie's class.

"Right. Then why is his lip cut up and his left eye swollen?"

"Guess he couldn't keep up," said the other kid, Jason Page.

"And was breaking the school's zero tolerance policy on hate speech part of the goofing around?" The two older boys turned to the younger one, who was trembling with fear and adrenaline.

"Um... yeah... " stammered the younger one. "We were just goofing."

"Right. Well, I know for a fact that the principal loves to goof around. Why don't we all take a visit to his office?"

*

Charlie waited in the reception area with the freshman after giving his statement.

"What's your name kid?"

"Robbie."

"I'm Mr. Parker. Whose English class are you in?"

"Ms. Meacham's."

"Ah, so you're one of the smart ones then." That got Robbie to smile a little. "Listen Robbie, I'm not gonna pretend to know what you're going through. I actually had it pretty easy in high school. But you can't let those guys just jerk you around for who you are."

"But what am I supposed to do?"

"Stand up for yourself."

"Like fight? Cuz I can't... "

"Not like with fists and... you just have to not take anyone's shit. You gotta be strong." Robbie's eyes widened at a teacher swearing. "How about your friends? Maybe if you stuck together... "

"I don't have any friends, Mr. Parker. My family just moved to Chicago. I don't really know anyone."

Charlie smiled. "Well, we're almost an hour late, but I think I have a group of people that'll be glad to have you as a friend. Wanna join me?"

Robbie nodded, his furrowed brow brightening up a bit. Charlie helped Robbie up and walked him down to meet Alex and the rest of the GSA.

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