The Story of Brandon

Brandon was walking home from the bus stop in the cool breeze of summer. He couldn’t wait to get home, considering that students at his school always picked on him because of his sexuality. A group of boys from school came up behind him and began calling him names. Brandon tried to speed up a little bit, but they ran in front of him and stopped him in his tracks. “Hey faggot,” Jason, one of the boys said abruptly. “Why are you walking so fast?”

Brandon didn’t want to listen to these jerks so he tried to go around them. But, one tall, average-sized boy named Ryan shoved his hand on his chest. “Stop that!” he exclaimed. “Just leave me alone! I don’t want to be bothered by you idiots.” Jason started to slowly walk around Brandon, a selfish smirk on his face. Suddenly, he pulled off his backpack, opened all the pockets, and dumped all his belongings on the sidewalk.

The boys laughed at Brandon’s humiliation. He hated these boys so much, but he could never beat them at anything, not by himself. Not in a fight. He was feeling completely powerless against these obnoxious and rude boys. Quickly, Brandon didn’t want to be hurt by them anymore and he picked up all his stuff, but only the big stuff. As he continued, another, Kevin, grabbed the edge of his underwear and tugged it upward. Jason and other boys watched the expression of Brandon’s face. They laughed uncontrollably as he cried with pain. Kevin pulled it so hard that it ripped. To avoid anymore embarrassment, Brandon gathered all his books and pens, and ran all the way home.



When Brandon got home and went up to his bedroom, he burst out in tears. He hated everyday of going to school and having to face the bullies. His mom and dad knew about this and told him that if it gets too out of hand that they will go to the school. His parents will try to make them expel those kids that are always bullying and torturing him. His dad knocked on the door and waited for an answer. He heard mumbling, but couldn’t make out what he said. He opened it slowly to find Brandon lying on the floor in a fetal position crying loud enough to be heard outside.

“Brandon, come here,” his dad said sadly. “Your mom and I want to talk to you.” He helped him up from the floor and they walked downstairs to the living room. They knew well enough by now that either Brandon or his parents could not take the pain that Brandon is suffering.

“Sweetie, you know that we both love you very much,” his mom said in a peaceful tone. “Whatever happened today we need to know so that we can notify the school principle about this. Now, please tell us occurred today.”

Brandon was hesitant at first, but he soon spoke in a low but audible tone. “When I was walking home, some boys started calling me names. I tried to get away but they took my backpack and dumped all of my stuff on the floor. One of the guys, Kevin, ripped my underwear and pulled it out. I ran away after that and came straight home.” There was silence throughout the whole house for a short a period of time. Then his dad broke the silence. “Do you know any of the boys’ names?”

“There’s Ryan Branson, Jason Fredrick, and Kevin Campbell. I don’t know the other three boys.” His mom put the pen and pad with the written names on it. “Tomorrow we will go to the school and talk with Mr. Jefferson to do something about them. This is truly too much for us to handle and they have gone too far with it. How does that sound, Brandon?” He nodded his head, a few tears still falling from his eyes.

“Honey, cheer up a little. We are going to finish this once and for all. What about turning the day around by going out to eat and having some fun?” His dad smiled at the suggestion and when Brandon looked up he had a sweet, loving smile appear across his face. “Can we go to the movies and see that movie, “No One Killed Jessica?” His parents looked at each other in disbelief. They knew what would make him happy, but certainly not a horror movie. Eventually, they nodded in approval and Brandon had big beam on his face. He thought that the day already turned into a good day. So they got dressed and drove up to Golden Corral, having a fun time spending time with each other. Especially Brandon, who was not worrying about what transpired a few hours ago. He didn’t care about them at this point in time, but hoped they will get expelled for the rest of the year, which wouldn’t be that long.

After eating and talking, they drove to the theater and watched the movie Brandon chose. Brandon, as he watched, was getting a bit emotional in a few parts of the film and a little scared. At 8:41 p.m. they walked out of the movies into the cool night. His dad asked blankly, “Did you get scared, son?” Brandon was silent for a few seconds. The he yelled without warning. “That was the best movie I’ve ever seen. Even though it was sad and scary, I just loved it. Maybe we should go see it again.”

“No,” they harshly replied.

“Why not? It’s a great movie.”

“We said no.”

Brandon wasn’t going to ruin the night by arguing with his parents. So he decided to keep his mouth shut and they drove home. The next morning, they all went up to the school and talked to Mr. Jefferson about their problem with the boys that were bullying him. When they were done explaining it, Mr. Jefferson knew what to do right away. “I will set up an appointment with each of the boys’ parents and we are going to confront them about this situation. No one should go through a situation like Brandon’s. We want him to be safe inside and outside the school. When I get in touch with their parents to find out what day will be best, I will then contact one of you to let you know what date they chose. I will make sure I talk to the boys and find out who the others boys are that were there that day. And, Brandon, I know you probably don’t want to be in the same room with them, but it’s best that you are there because you’re the victim of this and stand as evidence to this situation. So would you be willing to do that for us and yourself?” He glared at Brandon with sympathy in his eyes, waiting for his response. He nodded his head slowly and his mom gave him a hug.

Well, okay. I guess that settles everything for now. If the meeting goes to next week on Tuesday or Thursday, would that be alright?” His dad replied, “Yes, that would be great. The sooner, the better.”



The next week, all the boys’ parents and Mr. Jefferson had a meeting in the conference room on Thursday afternoon. They all filled the four couches while Brandon and his parents sat in the chairs. Mr. Jefferson looked at each of the boy’s faces with anger and disappointment.

Then, he began speaking. “Kevin, Jason, Ryan, David, Tom, and Ricky? I believe you all know why we are here with you and your parents. This young boy, Brandon, has been bullied and picked on by your sons nonstop. However, last week Wednesday is when they went too far. Brandon was walking home when they came up behind him; they started calling him gay names, and dumped all of his school supplies out of his backpack. Then, as he started putting the stuff back in, I believe Ryan grabbed his underwear lining and pulled at it until it ripped. After that, he went home crying and told his parents. They then came to my office and explained the situation.

“When I heard about what happened to him, I couldn’t believe it. I was thinking, considering it’s almost the end of the year, expelling them and at least three or four of you get transferred to another school. It doesn’t really matter to me who leaves, but if he bothers Brandon the most, then I have no other choice. We don’t want anything terrible happening to Brandon that hurts or even kills him. Do you boys understand that?”

They all thought for a second and half of them shook their heads. He waited for Kevin, Ryan, and Jason’s response. Jason replied, “No, I don’t want anything bad to happen to Brandon.” The rest of the boys glanced at him confused out of their minds, like they couldn’t believe what he said. “Well,” Mr. Jefferson said, “I hope you mean that because if you do something to him, you have yourselves to blame. Since you went too far once, three or four of you, as I said before, will be transferred.” He turned and looked at Brandon with a determined expression on his face. “Brandon, can you tell me 3 or 4 of these boys that bully you the most?” He quickly glanced at each one of them. “Tom, David, Ja….” When he looked at Jason, he had a sad, gloomy face and he was about to call his name, but he didn’t. “Kevin and Ricky,” he said quickly.

“What?!” they exclaimed simultaneously. Ricky immediately confronted him about saying their names. “That’s such a lie. Kevin and I don’t even bother him as much as Jason does. Regardless of the fact that Jason, Brandon, and I have the same class together, Jason should be the one kicked out of this school. And Kevin and I are new to the group and having been here long. So I don’t know what he’s freaking talking about.”

“Maybe,” Brandon replied, “I’m saying your names so you don’t get as careless and rude as Jason. Did you ever bother to think of that?” He stared Kevin down with piercing eyes. The main reason he didn’t choose Jason was because he wanted to talk to him and stand up to his bully. He was thinking most likely it’s due to his hatred of gay and lesbians. But what if, Brandon thought quietly, Jason was doing it to say something more than that?

Brandon knew he had to know the answer to his question as soon as possible. A few minutes later, the meeting ends and Mr. Jefferson tells David, Kevin, and Ricky’s parents that they need to be transferred to another school. Also, the boys were all expelled for the rest of the month, which was towards the end of the school year. The next day, Brandon decided to go to school and try his best to have a nice and easy day, without any of the boys bothering him. At 2:20 p.m. the dismissal bell rand and Brandon was excited to get out of school. No one bullied him or called him names, which he was satisfied about. He couldn’t wait to get home and tell his mom and dad all about it. As he began walking home, kids from his classes were saying goodbye to him and couldn’t wait to see him tomorrow. That was the first in a long time that he felt this happy and good about himself. Brandon was two blocks from reading home when someone called his name. The voice sounded familiar, almost like Jason’s. Afraid, he refused to turn around and kept walking. Suddenly, a hand touched his right shoulder and spun him around gently. He looked at the boy’s face with confusion and fear in his eyes. “It’s me, Jason,” the boy said with soft tone. I want to talk to you about something.”

“No, and you’re not supposed to be near me or anything. Remember what Mr. Jefferson said yesterday. None of you are to towards me because you might hurt me or worse.” Jason continued to look at Brandon with a thoughtful expression. “Look, I wanted to give you this to show that I’m really sorry about all I have done to you. It’s just that…I…don’t know what I was thinking. I never told anyone my secret and not even my parents.” Brandon waited for him to say his secret, but he didn’t. Instead, Jason gently took Brandon’s face into his hands and pulls him into a soft, long kiss. Jason continued as Brandon was still in a state of shock. He couldn’t believe what was happening right now. Finally, their lips parted and looked deeply into each other’s eyes. “Bye,” Jason quietly said as he turned to walk away. “Wait, I need to ask you something.” Jason stopped walking and went back towards Brandon. “Why did you do all those horrible and rude things to me if you could’ve took a different approach?” Jason glanced down at the ground, unable to say anything. “Well, I guess since I found out that I was gay, I didn’t know what to do or how to tell my parents. Instead of talking to you about it, I guess I wanted to show it in a different way that people wouldn’t know. So, I just pushed you around a little like into the lockers to show that, from my view, I had a crush on you. But I just didn’t know how to go up to you and actually say that. I’m truly sorry that I did all those things to you. The gift is to show my affection and love towards you. I didn’t want to do it in front the other boys or even anyone at school because I’d have no idea how they would react. Even when I went to school, I would always sit next to you, or anywhere close. Well, I have to go. Someone is waiting for me at home. Bye.” Brandon waved to him even though his mind told him not to and continued walking home.