Forgotten

(The day before)

In all of my years of schooling, I've never come across any extensive history on homosexuality. Homosexuals aren't really mentioned. They're kind of just skipped over.

I don't pay attention in history class. That's probably the last thing that one might expect from me, but I have absolutely no reason to listen to the old, hobbling man who attempts to teach. He limps from one side of the blackboard to the other, writing notes and reading monotonously from the textbook, the chapter being one that I had read two months before out of boredom and impatience. Sometimes it bothers me that Japan doesn't let students skip grades, because not only would I be much better suited in the grade above me, but there'd be a chance that I'd be in the same class as some of the Chosen Children as well. Well...probably not Taichi-san's, but it would definitely be easier to pass notes to him than to text him.

School textbook companies must simply choose to ignore a part of history, and isn't it our duty, as students, to learn history?

I'm lucky that I'm in the very back row, so he doesn't notice as I play around with my cell phone. But even if I sat front and center, he still probably wouldn't notice. But in the back it's much less conspicuous anyway, and everyone back there is always texting as well or falling asleep. At first, I think it was slightly strange for my other classmates to see me not paying attention and texting in the back of the classroom, but a brief explanation of how I had practically memorized what he was teaching two months before quickly diminished their curiosity.

Why should we be denied the right to learn?

Taichi-san is very lazy with his texting, which sometimes results in an incomprehensible mush, but I always stick with typing in whole words and using correct grammar so there's no misunderstanding. Plus, I don't want to feel like I'm getting sucked into the apathetic generation, which happens to be apathetic about correct Japanese. It's slightly annoying, but it's talking to Taichi-san.

Maybe a part of the reason why homosexuality isn't very openly-accepted in Japanese society is because it's such an unfamiliar topic. Sure, it becomes familiar through all of the anime and manga, but that doesn't make it seem real. Students need to understand that it is very, very real.

History is my first class of the day; his is math. I felt kind of bad after seeing his grade in math class after we started texting all the time, so I basically teach him the content every week so he won't fail at least (I gave up on trying to help him achieve As long ago). This is the only time that I agree to talk to him during a class; all of my other ones have teachers that would actually notice if I were texting.

He's the first one to send me a message this morning. I translate the gibberish into: "Hey, what's up?"

I respond back, my fingers embarrassingly flashing like a preteen girl's since I've collected practice throughout the year. "Absolutely nothing, as usual."

"Haha, yeah. Doing anything after school?"

My heart begins to beat a bit faster as I reply, "I was planning on working on a program that I'm writing, but I assume that you want to do something."

"Yep. Hang at your house?"

"Sounds fine. My parents won't be home. They're on a much-needed vacation."

The reaction is quick and blunt: "PARTY!"

"No way, Taichi-san, my parents would kill me."

"They don't have to find out."

"They trust me; I'm not even going to dare breaking that trust."

"Aw, come on. Do you know how much it would do for your social status if it turned out amazing?"

"When have I ever cared about that?"

"I'm just trying to help you out."

"I'm a responsible kid, unlike someone I know."

"I'm responsible!"

"Right."

"Well, what if we just invited the Chosen Children?"

"My parents would still kill me if they knew that I had girls over late at night." Not like I would do anything with them, anyway.

"No fun. Fine, how about just the guys?"

I sit back in my chair as I contemplate this. I'm not usually the one to throw parties. More often than not, we have them for the Chosen Children at the Yagamis', the Motomiyas', or sometimes even the Ichijoujis' when Ichijouji-kun is feeling particularly social. My parents probably would allow it if they were there to supervise, but no Chosen Child is actually someone to worry about. Well, except Mimi-san can be a little on the crazy side when she visits, and Daisuke-kun can be a bit of a troublemaker. If I call my parents, they probably wouldn't mind if a few of those guys came over...

I wonder how both students and parents would react if there was more history of homosexuals taught in the classroom.

"Alright, just the guys."

"Awesome! We'll ask them at lunch and after school."

"Okay. Now why don't you pay attention in class for once?"

Actually, I don't want to think about that. And it's sad that I don't want to.

"Psht, not a chance."