“I’m going to bed,” I say. “Abby, are you good?” My mom has Abby staying in Alice’s room, which is hilarious, considering Nick has been spending the night on my bedroom floor for about ten years.
It isn’t until I’m in my room that I can finally relax. Bieber is already passed out at the foot of my bed in a nest of jeans and hoodies. My dementor robes end up in a heap on the floor. I did aim for the hamper. I’m kind of comically unathletic.
I lie on top of my bed without getting in it. I hate messing up the sheets before I absolutely have to. I know this is weird, but I make my bed every single day, even though the rest of my room is a hellscape of paper and laundry and books and clutter. Sometimes I feel like my bed is a lifeboat.
I put in my earbuds. Nora and I share a wall, so I’m not supposed to listen to anything through the speakers after she goes to bed.
I need something familiar. Elliott Smith.
I’m wide awake and still kind of electrified from the party. I think it was good. I don’t have a lot to compare it to. It’s a little bit crazy to think that I had a beer. I know it’s astonishingly lame to even think that about a single beer. Garrett and all the soccer guys probably think it’s crazy to stop at one. But they’re not me.
I don’t think I’ll tell my parents about it. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get in trouble if I did. I don’t know. I need to spend some time in my head with this new Simon. My parents have a way of ruining things like this. They get so curious. It’s like they have this idea of me, and whenever I step outside of that, it blows their minds. There’s something so embarrassing about that in a way I can’t even describe.
I mean, telling my parents was easily the weirdest, most horrible thing about having a girlfriend. All three times. It was honestly worse than any of the breakups. I’ll never forget the day I told them about my eighth-grade girlfriend. Rachel Thomas. Oh my God. First, they wanted to see her yearbook picture. My dad actually brought the yearbook into the kitchen where the light is better, and he was perfectly silent for a full minute. And then: “That girl has some eyebrows.”
I mean, I hadn’t noticed until he said it, but after that, it was kind of all I could think about.
My mom was the one who got obsessed with the idea that I had a girlfriend even though I had never had one before. I don’t know why that came as such a freaking surprise to her, since I’m pretty sure most people start out never having had one. But yeah. And she wanted to know everything: how Rachel and I got together, and what my feelings were, and whether we needed her to drive us anywhere. She was just so bizarrely interested in all of it. It didn’t help that my sisters never talk about boys or dating, so it was like a huge spotlight on me.
Honestly, the weirdest part is how they made it feel like this big coming out moment. Which can’t be normal. As far as I know, coming out isn’t something that straight kids generally worry about.
That’s the thing people wouldn’t understand. This coming out thing. It’s not even about me being gay, because I know deep down that my family would be fine with it. We’re not religious. My parents are Democrats. My dad likes to joke around, and it would definitely be awkward, but I guess I’m lucky. I know they’re not going to disown me. And I’m sure some people in school would give me hell, but my friends would be fine. Leah loves gay guys, so she’d probably be freaking thrilled.
But I’m tired of coming out. All I ever do is come out. I try not to change, but I keep changing, in all these tiny ways. I get a girlfriend. I have a beer. And every freaking time, I have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again.
6
FROM: [email protected]
TO: [email protected] DATE: Nov 1 at 11:12 AM
SUBJECT: Re: hollow wieners
Jacques,
I hope your Halloween was excellent, and that your simplicity and badassery hit the mark. Things were really quiet around here. We only had about six trick-or-treaters. Of course, that means I am contractually obligated to eat the leftover Reese’s cups.
I can’t believe it’s already almost homecoming. I’m excited about it. Make no mistake, football is still my least favorite sport, but I actually really like going to the homecoming game. I guess it’s something about the lights and the drumbeats and the scent of the air. Fall air always smells like possibility. Or maybe I just like ogling the cheerleaders. You know me.
Are you doing anything interesting this weekend? We’re supposed to have suck nice weather. Excuse me, dick nice weather. ?
—Blue
FROM: [email protected] TO: [email protected]
DATE: Nov 1 at 5:30 PM
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Becky Albertalli's books
- Grounded (Up In The Air #3)
- In Flight (Up In The Air #1)
- Mile High (Up In The Air #2)
- THE BRONZE HORSEMAN
- The Summer Garden
- Bait: The Wake Series, Book One
- Into the Aether_Part One
- The Will
- Reparation (The Kane Trilogy Book 3)
- The Rosie Project
- The Shoemaker's Wife
- TMiracles and Massacres: True and Untold Stories of the Making of America
- The Death of Chaos
- The Paper Magician
- Bad Apple - the Baddest Chick
- The Meridians
- Lord John and the Hand of Devils
- The White Order
- Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
- The Ripper's Wife
- The Wizardry Consulted
- The Boys in the Boat
- Killing Patton The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General
- It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways
- The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry
- The Pecan Man
- The Orphan Master's Son
- The Light Between Oceans
- The Edge of the World
- All the Light We Cannot See- A Novel
- Daisies in the Canyon
- STEPBROTHER BILLIONAIRE
- The Bone Clocks: A Novel
- The Magician’s Land
- The Broken Eye
- The High Druid's Blade
- The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
- All the Bright Places
- The Other Language
- The Secret Servant
- The Escape (John Puller Series)
- The Atopia Chronicles (Atopia series)
- The Warded Man
- Return of the Crimson Guard
- The Line
- The Source (Witching Savannah, Book 2)
- Return of the Crimson Guard
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Last Town (The Wayward Pines Trilogy 3)
- The Man In The High Castle
- The Fiery Cross
- The Merchant of Dreams: book#2 (Night's Masque)
- The Prince of Lies: Night's Masque - Book 3
- The Alchemist of Souls: Night's Masque, Volume 1
- The Space Between
- An Echo in the Bone
- A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows
- The Killing Moon (Dreamblood)
- The Crush
- IMMUNE(Book Two of The Rho Agenda)
- The Last Threshold
- The Second Ship
- The Rift
- Homeland (Book 1 of the Dark Elf trilogy)
- Exile (Book 2 of the Dark Elf trilogy)
- The Winter Sea
- The Girl on the Train
- The Escape
- The Forgotten
- The Burning Room
- The Golden Lily: A Bloodlines Novel
- The Whites: A Novel
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The Clifton Chronicles 4
- Clifton Chronicles 02 - The Sins of the Father
- Mightier Than the Sword
- The City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments 4)
- The Blood of Olympus
- The Shadow Throne
- The Kiss of Deception
- Ruin and Rising (The Grisha Trilogy)
- The Nightingale
- The Darkest Part of the Forest
- The Buried Giant
- Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story
- The Assassin and the Desert
- The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before
- The Deal
- The Conspiracy of Us
- The Glass Arrow
- The Orphan Queen
- The Winner's Crime
- The First Bad Man
- The Return
- Inside the O'Briens
- Demon Cycle 04 - The Skull Throne
- The Raven
- The Secret Wisdom of the Earth
- Rusty Nailed (The Cocktail Series)
- The Lies of Locke Lamora