“Well, I am gay!” I said the words in front of my family, as I started crying and thinking about how my life had change from that moment on. It was 8 o’clock the evening, we had just finished dinner and it was one day after my 18th birthday. I couldn’t think of a better time to come out to my family, as I was sick and tired of lying to myself and to them. It might have worked for the people in my life but not for me. It felt as if my whole body was forced into a shoe box that I had to live in for the rest of my life

They understood me, they all wiped my tears away and told me how much they loved me, that they would never disown me and that we would go through it together. “My life is now on the right track”, I told myself as I went to bed.

It wasn’t long before the whole school knew that I was homosexual, the gossip spread fast like electricity. By now I was free to do and say whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted since everyone knew the truth. I could now do the things I was comfortable with without being mocked. I attended ballet classes without worrying what people were going to say. Yes, I am not going to lie, there were people who made jokes and harassed me, they called me a faggot but the joke was on them I was gay nonetheless.

I could wear clothes that I was comfortable in, if I wanted to rock up at a party with a deep V-neck; I would, because I didn’t care about the gay stereotypes anymore. I was free at last, until wrestling was introduced in our school.

You see, I hated wrestling and I didn’t care about it. When it was announced on the intercom that boys who were interested in representing the school should try out after school, most boys in my class where excited. That’s when everything went wrong. They started making jokes that I shouldn’t even try to go there, that I should try out for the cheerleading team. I didn’t minded the cheerleading part because I liked it. The problem was, that they thought I had no chance in wrestling. I felt challenged. So, I stood up and cried to the group of mean boys who sat in a corner in class, “You know what, I’ll be there and I challenge you”, I said as I picked the more masculine one out of the group.

School ended fast, then it was time for me to try out as the entire school was there to watch me get beaten up. Well, that had never happened before, when my name was called out from the list, everyone whispered among themselves, “this is the gay guy that challenged Spike to fight with him”, and then they all laughed including the teachers that were there. The bell rang, then the match started. I’m not bragging or anything, but I wasn’t scared. The fight took happened in something like 15 seconds and spike was down. I didn’t know the rules for the try-outs but the coach just announced me as the winner and I was still ready to fight. I wanted to prove that no matter how gay I was, that I was strong and could win a fight. I did, I won the match. The school hall was quiet for a few seconds then they all erupted in cheers.

When the try-outs ended, the names of those who had made it through were called out and we were told that we would be representing the school. My name was there, the coach also shook my hand and made me the captain of the team as I had the shortest time to put down my opponent. But I wasn’t all in that, I didn’t even wanted to be in the team however, I didn’t mention that to the coach. I ran after spike who was already by the gate heading home, I made sure the whole school was watching, I stopped him and as he turned over I shouted “don’t judge a book by its cover”.