"Fag"

I was in the elventh grade. This girl, Brenda, and I had gotten in an argument. She sat at her desk while I sat at mine on the other side of the room. I can't remember what we were fighting about. Probably about something only eleventh graders argue about. She became angry and yelled, "You fag!" A silence fell on the whole class proceeded by a thunderous laughter. I sat there, humiliated and defeated. The most hurtful part of it all was that the people whom I called friends sat there laughing loudly and unashamedly. Not one rose to my defense. I fought back the tears. To this day it remains a tough memory for me.

As the years progressed, I would gradually be told by my "friends," Nayeli, Juana, Stacy, Ricky, Marie, Antonio and Ralph, that they too were homosexuals (this is probably a major factor why I dislike closet cases). I was the first to come out. I did it because I hated pretending to be something I wasn't and I paid dearly for it. Looking back at that incident, I think if it weren't me it would have been someone else. If all of this is to build character and to become the proud, confident person I one day hope to be, then I will thank my higher power for bestowing such an honor onto me...and I will thank Brenda.